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THE UNITED STATES 
IN THE WORLD WAR 

(1918-1920) 



By 
JOHN BACH McMASTER 

History of the People of 
United States 

(From the Revolution to the Civil War 
In Eight Volumes.) 

With the Fathers 
The United States in the 

World War (in Two volumes) 



These Are Appleton Books 



D. APPLETON & COMPANY 
Publishers New York 



THE UNITED STATES 
IN THE WORLD WAR 

(1918-1920) 



BY 

JOHN BACH McMASTER 

PEOFESSOH OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 

AUTHOR OF "a HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATEs" 

AND "the UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR," 1914-1918 




D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
NEW YORK LONDON 

1920 






Copyright, 1920, bt 
JOHN BACH McMASTER 



©CI.A570837 



jliL 27 IS2Q 



Printed in the United States of America 



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CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Submarines Off Our Coast 1 

II. War Work At Home 32 

III. Fighting in France 85 

IV. Peace Offensives 141 

V. The Armistice 194 

VI. The President Goes Abroad 228 

VII. The Peace Conference 270 

VIII. The Treaty of Peace . 324 

IX. The Treaty Rejected 378 

Appendices 

A. Text of the Armistice 453 

B. Text of the Resolution to Create a 

World League 459 

C. Text of the Proposed Covenant . . 461 

D. Covenant of the League of Nations . 471 

E. Resolution of Ratification Rejected by 

THE Senate 482 

Index 485 



THE UNITED STATES 
IN THE WORLD WAR 

CHAPTEK I 
SUBMAEINES OFF OUR COAST 

Two visits to our ports by the merchant submarine Deutsch- 
land, one by the armed undersea boat U-53, and the torpedoing 
by her of five ships off Nantucket Island in the autumn of 
1916 made it certain, now we were at war, that sooner or later 
our Atlantic coast would be the scene of this form of German 
frightfulness. No surprise, therefore, was felt when, about the 
middle of May, 1918, rumors of the presence of a submarine 
off the capes of Virginia became current. 

The master of a British steamship which reached an At- 
lantic port May 22 reported that he had seen a submarine one 
hundred and fifty miles off the Virginia capes, and had fired 
five shots at her. The captain of a Clyde Line steamer which 
reached port a few days later had sighted three derelicts with 
cargoes untouched, sides torn open, and crews gone. One, a 
large four-masted schooner, was floating with her starboard 
side up, and had a great hole well below the water line. An- 
other, found in latitude 37° north, longitude Y5° west, was 
half submerged with bow down and stern high in air. Four 
small fishing vessels were standing by, examining her. A 
search for the missing crews, made by the Clyde liner, re- 
vealed no trace of them. Near the wreck were floating a few 
unmarked cork-ring life boats. Apparently the vessels had 
been hurriedly abandoned. Another, the three-masted schooner 
Edna, bound for Havana from Philadelphia with a cargo of 

1 1 



2 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

gasoline, sighted off the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, was 
towed by the Clyde liner to a point off the Delaware Capes 
and there abandoned. The report of the British captain that 
he had fired at a submarine was now believed to explain the 
mystery surrounding the three derelicts. Clearly, they had 
been destroyed by some undersea enemy craft off our coast, 
though the ISTavy Department officials declared there were no 
signs of a submarine on this side of the Atlantic, and that the 
British captain had probably fired at a bit of wreckage or some 
other floating object. Perhaps it was a whale, for a captain 
of a steamship which arrived at Mobile reported that he 
sighted a large one in the Gulf of Mexico. May 28 the Edna, 
with her decks level with the water, was towed into port by a 
tug and beached on the mud flats in the Delaware River off 
Port Richmond, and later was brought to Philadelphia and 
repaired. The fate of her crew of twenty-four was still as 
great a mystery as ever, and in hopes that they might be in 
life boats at sea, wireless messages were sent out to all vessels 
asking if they had picked up the men. 

While the mystery of the derelicts was still unsolved, the 
Hamburg-American liner President Lincoln, one of the vessels 
taken over after we entered the war, and then used as a trans- 
port, was torpedoed and stink May 31, while on her way from 
Brest to our country. Aboard were 715 persona, including the 
ship's officers and crew, and a few army officers and soldiers 
on their way home. Three officers and twenty-three seamen 
lost their lives. 

At eight o'clock in the morning, as the President Lincoln 
with three other transports was running west, the convoying 
destroyers having left them the previous esvening, she was 
struck by three torpedoes fired from a submerged submarine, 
the U-90, which had trailed the transports during the entire 
night. A few minutes after nine all hands were in life boats, 
or on rafts, and at half-past nine the President Lincoln turned 
over and sank. First Lieutenant Isaacs was taken prisoner, 



SUBMARINES OFF OUR COAST '$ 

carried to Wilhelmsliaven, sent to the camp at Karlsruhe, and 
finally to Yillingen, from which he escaped to Switzerland.-^ 

And now a Brazilian steamship reached an Atlantic port 
where the passengers stated that, when entering the Gulf 
Stream off the Florida coast, a wireless warning to look out for 
submarines caused the captain to make a wide detour. Sir 
Leslie Probyn, Governor General of Jamaica, one of the pas- 
sengers, said that before leaving the Barbados he had heard 
that a German submarine had been sighted as early as May 16 
near Bermuda. All doubt was put at rest June 3, when a 
Canadian-Pacific liner reached 'New York, and her captain 
announced that five vessels had been torpedoed off the Jersey 
coast. According to his story, his vessel was one of a slow 
convoy when, about seven o'clock on the evening of June 2, a 
wireless was received stating, "We are attacked by a subma- 
rine." The name of the vessel and her exact locality were 
given, but were not made known by the captain. In a few 
minutes came the words, "We have been torpedoed." He 
thereupon left the convoy and made all speed for New York. 
Half an hour later, as he sped through the darkness, a third 
message was received, reading, "We are attacked," and giving 
the name and location of a second tanker, and finally a fourth 
message from the same vessel, "We are sinking, S. 0. S." 
Fuller details of the work of the submarine were brought to 
iN'ew York, on the morning of June 3, by the steamship Bristol, 
with eleven of the crew of the four-masted schooner Edward H. 
Cole, sunk on the evening of June 2, some fifty miles southeast 
of Barnegat Light, l^ew Jersey. The captain of the Cole re- 
ported that a U-boat appeared suddenly, raised the German 
naval flag, circled about his schooner, and fired a shot across 
her bow ; that after he came about a boat put off from the sub- 
marine ; that her commander boarded the Cole, and said, "Cap- 
tain, you and your men have seven and a half minutes to get 
into your boats;" and that just as they put off the submarine 

* Lieutenant Isaacs has told his very interesting adventures in a little 
book, "Prisoner of the U-90." 



4 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

commander called out, "You will find the Jersey or Delaware 
coast over there. It isn't far." The Cole was then sunk by 
bombs. Before she was out of sight the U-boat was seen to 
sink a steamship believed to be the Caroliifm, of the Porto Rico 
line. Towards eight o'clock the crew of the Cole was picked 
up by the Bristol. 

On the afternoon of June 3 an American steamship came to 
port with forty-eight survivors of vessels destroyed by a sub- 
marine. They proved to be from the steamship Winnieconnie, 
and the schooners Edna^ Hattie Dunn, Hawppaug, and Isabel 
B. Wiley, picked up some twenty-five miles from Barnegat. 
About half of them had been prisoners on board the submarine 
for eight days. The Hattie Dunn left N'ew York on May 23, 
and when two days out met a submarine displaying the letters 
A.B., meaning stop at once. After the order was obeyed, a 
party came aboard, gave the crew ten minutes to get into a 
boat, put an armed guard over them, and took them, seven in 
number, to the submarine, which at once gave chase to the 
Hauppaug, five miles away. Her crew was also taken to the 
U-boat. Later in the afternoon the Edna was overhauled, and 
bombed, and her crew made captive. Continuing her course, 
the submarine, on Sunday, June 2, captured and sank the Wiley 
and the Winmeconnie, and putting all the prisoners into her 
boats, with water and bread, left them to shift for themselves. 
!Next came the Texel, a Dutch steamship of 7,000 tons, oper- 
ated by the United States Shipping Board, and carrying 42,000 
pounds of sugar. Shortly after four o'clock on Sunday after- 
noon, when the Texel was sixty miles from ISTew York harbor, 
a submarine suddenly arose off her bow, fired three rounds of 
shrapnel, sent a party aboard, ordered the crew to their boats, 
and sank her. Towards midnight, on Monday, the thirty-six 
survivors, exhausted by their long row, landed near the light- 
house at Atlantic City. More horrible still was the experience 
of the passengers and crew of the Carolina, destroyed about six 
o'clock on Sunday afternoon by the same U-boat, which, two 
hours before, sank the Texel. From the conflicting stories told 



SUBMARINES OFF OUR COAST 5 

by survivors it appears that the Carolma was in latitude 37° 59', 
longitude 72°, when brought to by shell fire, and her captain 
ordered to get all hands into the boats as soon as possible, as 
the ship was to be sunk. Twelve boats were lowered, filled 
without confusion or panic, and when all were clear of the ship, 
she was sunk by shell fire. Eight of the boats were made fast 
one behind another; but a thunder storm which had long been 
brewing soon burst, and fearing they might be crushed, they 
were cut loose and anchored. About eight o'clock, on Monday 
morning, a schooner picked them up, and the men, women and 
children, 244 in number, were safely landed at JSTew York. 
Boat 1^0. 5, when the ship was abandoned, rowed over to No. 1, 
a motor-driven life boat, which took it in tow, but when the 
storm came the tow line parted three times, and No. 5 could 
not be found in the darkness. The storm, meantime, grew 
worse and worse, and in the midst of it the motor boat capsized. 
When at last it was righted, seven of its twenty-six occupants 
had disappeared. The survivors, in a water-logged boat with 
an engine that would not work, drifted helplessly about until 
picked up by a British vessel some twenty-five miles off the 
Delaware Capes, and brought to Lewes. According to another 
of the survivors, there were thirty-five in the boat, and nineteen 
were lost. Boat No. 5, after the tow line parted for the third 
time, was headed for shore, and about two o'clock on the after- 
noon of Tuesday, June 4, made the beach at Atlantic City, 
where its occupants, twenty men and eight women and a girl, 
were warmly welcomed by the summer throng. 

Wednesday, June 5, a Danish steamship entered New York 
Harbor with eleven men of the crew of the schooner Mengel, 
sunk on Sunday evening one hundred and seventy-five miles off 
New York. She was the eleventh victim of the U-boats, for it 
was now said that at least two, the TJ-37 and the TJ-151, were 
cruising off our coast. Tuesday, June 4, the Norwegian steam- 
ship Eidsvold was destroyed, forty miles off the Virginia Capes, 
and sixty-five off the Maryland coast a submarine, while at- 
tacking the French steamship Badioleine, was driven undersea 



6 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

by the approacli of a United States destroyer which rescued 
two men from the schooner Edward H. Bairdy Jr. On the day 
following, the British steamship Harpathian was sunk, and the 
crew, after spending twenty-six hours in a boat, was picked up 
by a steamship and landed at Cape Henry. Fourteen ^ craft 
had fallen victims to the Hun sea raiders. The Mteenth was 
the Vinland, a Norwegian schooner destroyed off the Virginia 
coast on the evening of June 6. Her crew of nineteen men 
were brought to Cape May by a United States destroyer. The 
sixteenth was the Pinar del Bioj sunk on the morning of June 
8, seventy miles off the Maryland coast. Sixteen of the crew 
made land in Virginia, after thirty hours in an open boat. A 
second boat, with the remainder of the crew, was still at sea. 
The seventeenth was the !N^orwegian steamship Vindeggen, 
whose crew were forced to transfer eighty tons of copper ingots 
to the submarine. The small boats, with the crew, were then 
taken in tow until the Danish vessel Hendrih Lund was sighted, 
when they were cut adrift. The crews of both vessels were 
picked up by a steamer and carried to New York. The steam- 
er Edward Pierce now made port after being under fire from 
a submarine for three hours, seventy miles off the Virginia 
coast. 

When a week passed without a sinking, it was supposed the 
U-boat raid was over. But, June 16, the Navy Department 
announced that the Norwegian bark Samoa, from Buenos Aires, 
was sunk by gunfire from a German submarine ninety miles off 
the Virginia coast; that the Norwegian sailing ship Eringsjaa 
had been destroyed, not far from the spot where the Samoa 
went down.; and that the crew had been picked up by a de- 
stroyer. 

The raid, it was explained, was nothing more serious than 

'Schooner Edna, 325 tons; schooner Hattie Dunn, 436 tons; schooner 
Hauppaug, 1,500 tons; schooner Edward H. Cole, 1,791 tons; schooner 
Isabel B. Wiley, 11 Q tons; schooner Jacob M. Haskell, 1,778 tons; steam- 
ship Winnieconnie, 1,869 tons; steamship Carolma, 5,039 tons; schooner 
Edvmrd H. Bawd, Jr., 279 tons; tanker Herbert L. Piatt, 7,200 tons; 
steamship Texel; Norwegian steamship Eidsvold; schooner Mengel; Brit- 
ish steamship Harpathian, 4,500 tons. 



SUBMARINES OFF OUR COAST 7 

a spectacular play to convince the German people that measures 
were under way to cut off, at their source, the supply of Amer- 
ican men and material. N^othing so far done by the U-boats, 
it was argued, indicated they were under orders to attack 
American transports. They had been sinking small and de- 
fenseless craft in order to roll up a large number of victims 
with which to make a great impression at home. "No seashore 
resorts, no cities, were in danger. The shallow water of the 
coast, south of 'New York, was a sure protection against the 
operation of submarines within a short distance of the shore. 
Blame for these sinkings was laid on the ISTavy Department, 
Lack of watchfulness, failure to appreciate the meaning of the 
Edna case, failure to send out timely warnings, were charged 
against it. Why, it was asked, were the authorities incredu- 
lous of the stories of pursuits, captures, sinkings, constantly 
brought in by captains and crews? When the captain of the 
British tanker, Cheyenne , took refuge at Lewes, May 16, and 
reported firing five shots at a U-boat, a hundred and fifty miles 
off the coast, why did the N'avy Department say he had seen 
wreckage? When the Ednxi was towed into port with a hole 
in her side, why did the Department say there were no signs 
of enemy war craft off our coast, and that she had been wrecked 
by a storm ? How came it that the captain of the Bristol could 
say, that so far as he knew no warnings to ships at sea had 
been sent out by the Government? Where were our subma- 
rines, scouts, and destroyers, during the last week of May and 
the first three days of June? If the presence of these raiders 
was known, why were our ships permitted to put to sea without 
warning? The assistant Secretary of the E'avy replied, that 
official notice of danger had been sent out prior to Saturday, 
June 1, but did not give the exact date. Why the Carolina 
did not receive the warning was past understanding. That the 
schooners failed to get it was because they had no wireless 
apparatus. During a Senate debate on the matter. Senator 
Lodge, a member of the Senate ISTaval Committee, defended the 
Department. The navy had acted as soon as authentic informa- 



8 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

tion of the presence of the submarines was received ; had done 
everything that could be done ; would do everything that could 
be done ; and had the means with which to do it. He had gone 
to the Department, where everything had been laid before such 
members of the !N"aval Committee as cared to investigate, and 
he was entirely satisfied that the defense would be effective. 
Secretary Daniels explained that the Department could not 
"take it upon itself to warn all ships against sailing, or to di- 
rect ships at sea to return to port, on such information as we 
had prior to Sunday." Had such a course been followed in 
the case of every rumor of the presence of U-boats off the coast 
during the last six months, shipping would have been demoral- 
ized. Scarcely a fortnight had passed without somebody re- 
porting having sighted a periscope, and if all ships had been 
ordered to remain in port our vessels "would have been tied up 
fast to their piers practically for all the time." Every report 
had been investigated, "but all proved erroneous, until the events 
of last Sunday brought indisputable evidence that at last an 
enemy submersible had come over to make an attack upon such 
American shipping as could be caught unawares." In a tele- 
gram published by the London Times, the Secretary said : 

The activities of the German submarines off the American coast 
have not in any way changed the policy of the Government. The 
road to France will be kept open for transportation of our troops, 
and delivery of munitions, and food supplies for our troops, and those 
of our allies. There will be no weakening of our naval forces in 
European waters as a result of the new activity on our coast. The 
country has remained cahn in the face of Germany's attempt to bring 
frightfulness to our doors. In fact, this enemy effort has stimulated 
recruiting and strengthened the determination of our people to use 
every resource to defeat the enemy. 

Comments of the German press on the sinkings in May and 
June were cabled to Secretary Lansing, and bj his authority 
made public as amusing examples of the false information the 
German people were allowed to receive. One journal described 
us as trembling with fear of attacks from the air ; declared the 



SUBMARINES OFF OUR COAST 9 

hour was near when our ports might he homharded by German 
cannon, and asserted that the sudden appearance of the sub- 
marines off our coast "must be a presage of impending calam- 
ity" ; and that the Government was "trying to conceal its con- 
cern." Another asserted that the transportation of American 
troops, and supplies, to France would be cut off at the very time 
they were most needed. "Our submarines are delivering de- 
cisive blows to French hopes by checking the delivery of Ameri- 
can soldiers and supplies. No threat of increased war spirit 
can prevent us from continuing the submarine attacks, and Ger- 
many may wait patiently and confidently:. for future submarine 
activity on the American coast." They had only made a begin- 
ning. "The real work of the submarines begins when the At- 
lantic is filled with ships assembled by America. Germany 
possesses submarine cruisers which can cross the ocean, and 
then will occur scenes which will make the marrow in Wilson's 
bones turn cold." 

I^eutrals did not think so. The National Zeitung, published 
at Basle, Switzerland, believed Germany would pay a heavy 
price for the submarine attack, and said: "The submarine 
campaign on the American coast will, like all other similar 
undertakings, end in disappointment on the part of the under- 
tal^ers. American hatred will be increased, and the war against 
Germany will now become a matter of personal importance for 
every American. It is very doubtful if the attack will really 
serve German military interests, and not result merely in a 
momentary advantage for which too high a price must be paid 
later. This naturally is beyond the comprehension of German 
military leaders and people. Immediate results will be innu- 
merable American volunteers. A wave of hysterical fanati- 
cism, an increased thirst for revenge, will sweep America and 
easily counterbalance the advantage of the attack for Ger- 
many." The Cologne Gazette rejoiced that Germany was mak- 
ing use of her war power to "show the friends of humanity in 
their homeland what war looks like, and what it means. Our 
U-boats first visited the American coasts for peaceful com- 



10 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

merce. The iNorth. Americans may now feel tlie fist of tlie war 
lord. They need not be surprised. He who sows the wind 
reaps the whirlwind, even when he sits on the other side of the 
great herring pond where he is under the delusion that he is 
safe from storm." "Those," said the Cologne Volks-Zeitung, 
"who are .prosecuting a starvation war against our v^ives and 
children are having revealed to them, off their own shores, the 
seriousness of war. This, in view of the character of our 
American opponents, evokes on all sides the liveliest satisfaction 
among the German people." 

The Nord Deutsche AUgemeine Zeitung said, concerning the 
raid: "It is the first big and carefully planned action of our 
undersea warfare against the war prolonger in the far West. 
It is linked up with our offensive on the European battlefields. 
The U-boats have brought the war to the American shores, to 
catch American transports near the point of departure, because 
it is not always easy to deal with them in the open sea as in 
European waters. The German people wish their brave sailors 
good luck and success in their task." 

His work ended for the time being, the captain of the U-boat 
returned to" Germany and gave an account of his experience to 
the Cologne Yolks Zeitung, which published it July 31, 1918: 

When my U-boat was about 500 miles east of the Bermuda Islands 
I was reported to the American stations by a steamer which was 
equipped with wireless apparatus. Nevertheless, I went about my 
task, and forthwith dispatched three sailing vessels, from which I 
was able to disengage myself, as they were not equipped with wireless. 
I took the crews on board. The negroes were huddled together, the 
Europeans were put in another compartment. The captains were 
entertained in the officers' mess room. 

We experienced a merry reunion in the case of two of the Captains. 
The Captains described the attitude prevalent in the United States, 
and were of the opinion that people were everywhere opposed to the 
war, and that every one was shouting against it; that it was merely 
begun in the interests of the money magnates; that the press, how- 
ever, was agitating strongly for it. The extermination of all that 
was German, in language, etc., is being brought about there. All 
strikes, no matter where they occur, are being attributed to German 



SUBMARINES OFF OUR COAST 11 

intrigue. Thereupon, inquiries are being made to find out if the 
guilty party might in any way be of German descent. In case such a 
one has been found guilty, he has often been assaulted and beaten to 
death by the mob. 

The appearance of the U-boat before their very coast wiU hardly 
tend to improve the morale of the Americans. 

When things became hot for the U-boat the people became some- 
what frightened. One day we succeeded in sinking six vessels. After 
sinking the first sailing vessel the crew was put on a steamer which 
came in sight. They spoke very gratefully of the treatment which 
we accorded them. The Captain, to be sure, thought that they would 
be thoroughly questioned, at once, upon their landing; they said that 
what they would report would be of no consequence, however, as 
everything would be misquoted. 

We met another steamer, the Carolina. It was halted by wireless. 
It had 300 passengers on board. In spite of the warning signal, it 
did not stop. On coming nearer, it became evident that the steamer 
contained about 5,000 tons of cargo. When the lifeboats, which were 
to carry the travelers to safety, were let down two of them which 
were filled were said, according to the American report, to have over- 
turned. The remainder of the passengers escaped unhurt. Great ex- 
citement prevailed upon leaving the ship. 

In the course of the next few days 36,000 tons were sunk. In- 
cluded in this were shipments of cotton, copper and sugar. In 
America the scarcity of sugar is especially noticeable. The Ameri- 
cans are quite unhappy because there is no more whisky to be had. 
The beer, too, is bad; it is only rarely served at that. 

The Captains of these ships said that the attempts to bring the 
Australian harvests to America could not succeed, because of the 
scarcity of ships; that the transportation difficulties, in general, were 
huge. One had to rely upon exports, from elsewhere, more than 
usually. Strangely enough, nearly all coal was transported along 
the coast in sailing vessels. 

One day we met a Norwegian ship that contained about 1,000 
tons of copper in addition to another valuable cargo. In the mean- 
time another ship appeared, so that we ordered the Norwegian ship 
to wait until we returned. This the Norwegian ship really did, quite 
patiently, for a long time. The ship which we had encountered in 
the meantime was an American steamer, upon which four men en- 
tered as a prize crew. All passengers were saved. After the steamer 
had been sunk we went back to the Norwegian ship, and asked why 
it had not escaped. The Captain said he thought he would not have 



12 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

been able to go very far; at any rate our speed and our guns would 
have reacted him soon enough. Inclement weather had set in in the 
meantime, so that the valuable copper material could not be un- 
loaded. Not until the next morning could this task be begun. The 
copper was in the handy form of bars. 

The Captain of this ship had taken another Captain who wished 
to travel to his homeland, together with his wife and a two-year-old 
child, along with him. We took the woman on board. She was quite 
a genteel lady, only she used perfume somewhat too freely, so that 
it was not long before the whole U-boat reeked with it. We wanted 
to take her below deck, but owing to the rough weather this was not 
agreeable to her. So she stayed on the surface of the vessel, where 
her husband had some wicker furniture carried to her. The child 
was treated very considerately by the crew. Milk and chocolate were 
given to it 

The overhauling of the copper, about 70,000 kilograms were taken 
over, was quite a slow process. It was rendered more difficult by the 
mass of sharks which gathered about both sides of the vessel. The 
Norwegians began to shoot at the sharks with revolvers. But all this 
was useless. Finally three lines were let out, and a large shark was 
caught. Great joy prevailed. We were obliged to remain another 
night. The next morning the steamer was sunk. 

Soon after the sinking I saw a new steamer, which, after the first 
warning shot, at once put out the lifeboats. The Norwegian Captain 
again met an acquaintance, and celebrated a reunion. Finally, we 
caught a little coastwise steamer, which took up the crew. The coast- 
wise steamer dimmed its lights, but nevertheless it could be deter- 
mined that the passengers were safely transferred. 

On the return voyage, again two sailing vessels with copper ore 
were sunk. After the sinking of these ships I sent wireless mes- 
sages to all that at such and such a point U-boats were active. To 
prove that the message was understood, I received a reply asking if 
the position given were correct. An American warship passed, at 
this point, without noticing the incident. One just had to learn how 
to wage war. 

Upon sinking a transport, that was put out of commission by one 
torpedo, we had an opportunity of studying the new American swim- 
ming vest. A most charming fellow in a life boat, who took up a 
huge amount of space, attracted our attention. He was stout by 
nature, and by reason of his giant swimming vest required even 
more room. Therein was found a whisky flask, a box of provisions, 
and on the left side a container with compressed air so that the 



SUBMARINES OFF OUR COAST 13 

wearer of this wonder-robe was not even obliged to inflate the swim- 
ming vest. 

On the return voyage, through the North Sea, we had very bad 
weather. The enemy did not fail in making attempts to catch our 
U-boat. Nevertheless, they did not succeed. The whole voyage was 
very fatiguing, owing to the dangerous undertaking, and to the in- 
clement weather. The crew had very little rest on the trip. Once 
four of my men were washed overboard. However, they were all 
soon rescued. One of the mates furnished us with amusement with 
his mandolin. The machines were in perfect condition, and, defy- 
ing all difficulties, brought us safely to the home haven. 

I^earlj a month had passed after the departure of the U-boat 
when, on July 12, a British, steamer reached port with the 
crew of the N^orwegian bark Manx King, captured July 6, 
some 300 miles off Cape Race. What was done with the bark 
the crew did not know. A week later word was received by 
the N'avy Department that two steamships were on their way 
to port with 1,156 officers and men of United States armored 
cruiser San Diego, sunk on the morning of July 18, ten miles 
south of Tire Island, and some fifty miles off !N"ew York 
harbor. According to some of the sailors who landed at Point- 
o-Woods, Long Island, the sinking was due to a torpedo ; others 
declared it was caused by an internal explosion; but the com- 
manding officer was sure the San Diego had struck a mine.^ 
While the question was still unsettled, on July 21, a German 
submarine attacked the tug, Perth Amboy, and four barges, 
without warning, three miles off the little town of Orleans on 
the elbow of Cape Cod. 

A thick fog bank, a few miles off shore, hid the raider, nor 
was her presence known until a deck hand sighted something 
rushing through the water astern, quickly followed by two more 
torpedoes, which went wide of their mark. The sailor shouted 
a warning, and at the same instant there was a flash in the 
fog, and a shell struck the wheelhouse of the tug, and a frag- 
ment tore off the hand of the man at the wheel. Coming out 
of the fog the submarine, firing from her deck guns as she 
approached, continued her attack until the barges were sunk, 



14 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

one by one, and the tug was a burning wreck. Forty-one per- 
sons, including three women and five children, made their es- 
cape in boats and landed in l!^auset Harbor. 

Reports of sinkings now followed in quick succession. Four 
men came ashore, from a dory, at Cape Porpoise some twenty- 
five miles south of Portland, Maine, and reported that their 
fishing schooner, the Robert and Richard of Gloucester, had 
been sunk by a U-boat on Cashe Bank, sixty miles southeast of 
the Cape, and that other dories, carrying 23 men, were coming 
in behind them ; the British schooner Dornfontein, loaded with 
lumber, was stopped, looted of food, and sunk, twenty-five miles 
southwest of Brier Island, and three American schooners were 
destroyed off Seal Island on the Kova Scotia coast by a U-boat, 
whose crew claimed to have placed the mine which sank the 
San Diego. That a mine destroyed the cruiser was the opinion 
of the !Naval Court of Inquiry. "On the day subsequent to 
this disaster," said the Court, "six contact mines were located 
by the naval forces in the vicinity of the position where the 
disaster to the U. S. S. San Diego occurred." Because of this, 
and other reasons, the Court decided that the cruiser was de- 
stroyed by a mine. 

August 5, the crew of a fisherman, the Nelson A. of Yar- 
mouth, came ashore in their dories at a port, not named, and 
reported that their vessel had been sunk August 4 by a bomb 
placed in her hold by men from a submarine five miles south 
by west of Loch, ISTova Scotia. 

Continuing her depredations the U-boat, August 5, when 
forty miles west of Halifax, fell in with the Standard Oil 
Company's tanker Luz Blancha and sank her after a three 
hours' fight. On the day following the British schooner Gladys 
M. Hollett was encountered on her way to l^ew York with 
herring, was stopped, ransacked from stem to stern, sunk by 
a bomb placed in her hold, and the crew left to row ashore. 

Meantime the presence of a second U-boat off our coast was 
made known by wireless calls for help. They came from the 
0. B. Jennings, a Standard Oil Company tanker, which sailed 



SUBMARINES OFF OUR COAST 15 

from Plymouth, England, on July 20 for ITewport JtsTews. 
All went well until a quarter past nine on Sunday morning 
August 4, when, some seventy miles off the Virginia coast, the 
captain of the tanker saw the wake of a torpedo coming to- 
wards the port beam. The helm was at once put over, the 
Jennings swung to port, and the torpedo harely missed her. 
The four-inch gun in the stern was quickly put into action, 
and the fight began. At a quarter before twelve a shell struck 
the main steam pipe in the engine room, and the tanker was 
helpless. The crew went over the starboard side into their 
boats, and about one o'clock pulled away from the ship. The 
submarine, which by that time had ceased firing, and was cir- 
cling around the Jennings, changed her course and headed for 
the third boat commanded by the second officer, Mr. Rene 
Henry Bastin. When a hundred feet away some one sang out, 
"Where is your captain?" Nobody answered, whereupon the 
guns of the submarine were pointed at the little boat, and the 
question repeated. Mr. Bastin replied, in English, "The cap- 
tain is dead." Again the question was repeated, and suppos- 
ing the questioner did not understand English, Mr. Bastin re- 
plied in Flemish, that the captain was on the deck of the 
Jennings under the flag. "If you do not know where the cap- , 
tain is, you come here," was the order now received. On board- 
ing the submarine, which proved to be the UK-lJfO, the captain 
said, "You are an officer of the ship, so I must keep you as 
a prisoner of war." The Jennings was then bombarded until 
about a quarter to five o'clock when she turned bottom up, but 
did not sink. Finally, two torpedoes were fired, and at half 
past five she went down. 

The UK-lJf.0 was the finest and latest of the German sub- 
marines. She was finished in 1918, and put in commission 
in June. She was 380 feet in length, carried a crew of 102 
men and six officers, was armored with two and a quarter inch 
plate, and had a diving depth of four hundred and ninety-five 
feet. Her armament consisted of two six-inch, and two four- 
indi, guns and twelve machine guns. In her hold were thirty- 



16 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

five torpedoes, each twenty-four feet long ; four thousand rounds 
of ammunition; and enough, oil to cover thirty-two thousand 
miles at a speed of three knots. Submerged, she could make 
twelve, and on the surface, twenty-six knots. 

One of the two remaining boats from the Jennings was 
picked up by a patrol boat. The other reached Norfolk in 
safety. On the morning of August 5, (Mr. Bastin heard firing 
from nine until ten o'clock, and, during the afternoon, learned 
from other prisoners that the submarine had sunk a four-master 
schooner, the Stanley W. Seaman of Boston. An account of 
what happened to the Seaman was given by her captain when a 
British vessel reached Newport !News with the crew of the 
destroyed vessel. She was fired on, the captain said, without 
warning when about one hundred and ten miles east of Cape 
Hatteras. Her crew at once took to their small boats, but 
were allowed to return for provisions, and then put off in the 
gasoline launch. After three days in the Gulf Stream the 
men were rescued by the British vessel. Before the Seaman 
was sunk, by a bomb, she was looted in the good old-fashioned 
pirate way. "While below that day," says Mr. Bastin, "I saw 
a lot of stores, provisions, clothes, and various things brought 
aboard from the Seaman." Strangely enough, the Captain of 
the Seaman described the submarine as the U-132, with four 
guns, one fore, one aft, and one on each side. 

Cruising westward, the UK-IJ^O fell in with the small un- 
armed steamship Merah, three miles north of the Diamond 
Shoal Lightship 71, anchored twelve miles off Cape Hatteras. 
What then happened was described by an officer of the Merdk, a 
Dutch vessel taken over by the Shipping Board and at the time 
of her destruction under the American flag. 

We were fired on by the submarine at 1.40 o'clock in the after- 
noon. We were within three miles of the lightship, and we took up 
a zigzag course toward the shore, hoping to escape. We hit on the 
shoals, however, and as shells from the submarine were falling all 
about us, some striking the bridge, we abandoned the ship, taking 
to the boats. 



SUBMARINES OFF OUR COAST 19 

The submarine then desisted in her fire on us, turned its attention 
to the lightship, and with a few shots put the wireless out of com- 
mission. A boat with several men was then sent from the submarine 
to the MeraJc, and in a few moments she blew up. The Germans 
then began shelling the lightship, and soon sank her. 

As we were rowing away, the U-boat started after us and hailed 
us to stop. The submarine came to within a boat's length, and an 
officer, speaking perfect English, asked our name, nationality, cargo, 
and where we were from. He did not seem to place us, and he told 
one of his men, speaking in English, to go below and get him Lloyd's 
register. Examining the book, he said: 

"Oh! Tour ship was a Hollander, was it?" He then asked if we 
had a sail, and on being told we did, he advised us to hoist it, with 
the remark that the coast was only ten miles to the westward. 

He wished us good luck, waved his hand, and then started after 
two ships that were visible about four or five miles away. He soon 
came within shooting distance, and we could see shells falling about 
both vessels, and puffs of smoke from both guns on the deck of the 
submarine. 

The crews of the Merah and the Lightship reached the shore 
in safety. Again a wrong description of the UK-IJ^O was 
given. There were no numbers, nor marks, on the submarine 
by which it could be identified, the officer reported. It was, 
he said, 200 feet long, was very rusty and slimy, had no peri- 
scope in sight, and nothing on deck save a chain railing, a. 
range finder, and two six-inch guns, one fore, and one aft, the 
conning tower. 

Mr. Bastin, in his account of the attack on the Lightship, 
says : 

In the afternoon everybody of the crew was on deck, and heavy 
gunfire was heard. Different shells, from other ships, I suppose, 
were bursting around the submarine. As we sat inside we could hear 
the shells bursting around us. We were called on deck (five prison- 
ers), lined up, and the first thing I saw that struck me was Diamond 
Shoal Light Vessel at a distance of about 150 yards. At the same 
time I saw three steamers on fire, and the submarine was shelling the 
Light Vessel with her two 6-inch guns at 150 yards. 

I noticed the smoke of these shells was yellow, and I think the 
shells fired on the 0. B. Jennings were smokeless. I concluded, there- 



20 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

fore, ttat the submarine wa3 firing gas shells at the Diamond Shoal. 
I think she did that in order that none of the Light Vessel crew 
might escape. The Light Vessel blew up in a few minutes, and I 
saw her lee boat pulling away at a few hundred yards' distance. The 
submarine was shelling the boat with a four-inch gun, but missed 
it, and the submarine could not go any further in as it was shallow 
water. 

During nearly three months Mr. Bastin was a prisoner on 
UK-lJi-O, and finally reached Kiel late in October. These 
months were full of adventure. On the evening of the day on 
which the Light Ship was destroyed, the submarine was sighted 
by destroyers, and forced to dive. 

In twenty seconds I heard a rush of waters around the sides. The 
submarine went down by the head, and in a few seconds, in the 
room where we were, we saw that there was a big water depth in the 
gauge glasses. I noticed, after a minute, she was a hundred feet deep 
in the gauge glasses ; at the same time we heard concussions of depth 
charges which were repeated at very short intervals. 

Suddenly, a depth charge burst. It seemed to be right on her 
stern, because she got a lift, and went head first, and in a few sec- 
onds I saw the depth was 415 feet. More bombs exploded right on 
top of us, blowing up the middle hatch, putting out the lights, and 
giving the submarine a list of 40 degrees. Twenty-eight depth 
bombs were fired. Followed by the destroyers the TJK-lJf.0 ran under 
water for six days, leaving behind a trail of oil that came from her 
leaking tanks. Now and then the submarine's periscope came to the 
surface to take bearings of the destroyers searching for her, some- 
times ahead, sometimes astern. On the morning of the sixth day she 
rose to the surface, and after an exciting chase, escaped. August 
27, the British steamer Diomed was sunk and another prisoner 
brought aboard. August 28 a Brazilian steamer, convoyed by our 
destroyer O'Brien,, was attacked. September 20, she was attacked by 
an American destroyer, and forced to submerge. Again depth bombs 
were used; but once more she escaped, and when, next morning, the 
prisoners were allowed on deck, they found the aft deck smashed, 
one of the 6-inch guns gone, the wireless completely wrecked, and 
part of the conning tower bent to pieces. 

Steaming slowly, leaving a big oil track behind her, the 
UK-lJfO, on September 28, fell in with the U-117 ; accompanied 



SUBMARINES OFF OUR COAST 21 

lier for a week, until off the coast of Scotland where the UK-l^O 
ran out of oil. For "two days and nights everyhody, even the 
prisoners, were busy passing oil cans on ropes from 117 to IJ^O, 
until 43 tons were received." She then signalled that she 
would go on to the Faraway Islands, wait "for the other sub- 
marines which were the 102, 156, 100 and 111 , and that they 
all would then go through the mine fields in the ISTorth Sea, 
and through the nets." During the run the 156 struck a mine 
and "was blown 500 feet in the air." October 23, when near 
the Norwegian coast, destroyers were sighted, and the sub- 
marines scattered. On the night of the 24th the UK-IJ^O again 
ran out of oil, and lay on the surface off the Danish coast ; but 
fortunately for her, before morning, she was met by a German 
destroyer, and given oil, and on the afternoon of the next day 
made Kiel. 

For a week Mr. Bastin remained a prisoner on the U-boat; 
was then sent on to Wilhelmshaven ; was a witness at both 
places of the revolt of the German navy, early in ITovember; 
saw the troops returning from the front ; was sent to the camp 
at Karlsruhe; and then to Villingen, whence he escaped to 
Switzerland.^ 

While Mr. Bastin, during August and September, was on- 
his way to Germany, the U-boats continued their depredations 
off ISTantucket Island, and on the Banks. Early in August an 
American schooner brought to port eighty-five of the crew of 
the Japanese freighter Tohuyama Maru, torpedoed two hundred 
miles off the I^ova Scotia coast on August 1. August 11 the 
captain of a fishing schooner reported that while sword-fishing, 
160 miles southeast of Kace Point with four other schooners, 
a U-boat suddenly came to the surface in the midst of the 
fleet. He was some distance away, but saw several of the 
schooners disappear. The enemy craft was the U-117, the 
same which met the UK-Uj-O with Mr. Bastin a prisoner on 
board. The 11-117 was a large mine laying submarine, was 275 

•The adventures of Mr. Bastin are told by him in The Lamp, a Stand- 
ard Oil Company publication, for April, 1919, 



22 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

feet long, carried two guns, fortj-six mines, and twenty tor- 
pedoes. She left port on July 15, passed north of the Shetland 
Islands, made for the American coast and carried on her 
depredations between iNantucket and Cape Hatteras. 

And now the fishing schooner Helen Murley reached IlTew 
Bedford with four survivors of the crew of the Kate Palmer 
who reported that a submarine came to the surface in the midst 
of the fishing fleet and sank nine of them. The men on the 
Palmer were kept prisoners for one hour and then set adrift in 
a dory. The TJ-boat was described as 300 feet long, with a 
6-inch gun in the bow, and a smaller one in the stern. Georges 
Banks, where the sinkings occurred, is sixty miles off N^antucket 
Island. 

The crews of these captured vessels were ordered aboard the 
U-boat where ten of them were lined up before the conning 
tower and photographed. When asked why a photograph was 
taken, a member of the submarine crew said : "That goes back 
to Germany to show what we do over here. We have quite a lot 
of them. They look good in Berlin." The captain of the 
raider, with an American flag around his shoulders, gave "a 
grotesque exhibition of dancing," while his crew cheered loudly, 
and more loudly still when he flung it on deck and stamped 
on it. Six men of the sword-fishing schooner Cruiser rowed 
180 miles in their dory before they were rescued off Great 
Round Shoal Lightship six miles from !N'antucket Island. Six 
members of the crew of the schooner Earl and Nettie reached 
N^antucket, and reported their vessel, the tenth, sunk. August 
11, the British steamer Penistone was destroyed near Georges 
Bank. Nine of the crew reached JSTantucket, and twenty-nine, 
after suffering great hardship for four days, landed at 
Provincetown. The executive officer reported that the torpedo 
was fired at close range, tore a hole in the vessel amidships, 
wrecked the engine, scattered burning oil over the firemen, and 
killed one man. The Captain ordered his men into the boats, 
and stood by watching the work of the submarine. Finally, 
he called for eleven volunteers to go with him to the Penistone 



SUBMARINES OFF OUR COAST 23 

and attempt to save tlie skip's papers and personal effects. All 
were captured by the Germans. The men were ordered back 
to their boats, but the Captain was held prisoner. The 
Penistone was then sunk by bombs, an hour and a half after 
the torpedo struck her. 

The Swedish steamship Sydland was torpedoed August 8, 
a hundred miles southeast of I^antucket Island, and on the 
thirteenth a patrol boat of the Coast Guard entered 'New York 
harbor towing a life boat in which were thirty-one of the crew 
of the ISTorwegian freighter Sommerstad, torpedoed twenty-five 
miles southeast of Fire Island. Said the captain: 

We were bound from Norway to New York, in ballast, under char- 
ter to the United States Government, and had called at Halifax for 
examination by the British officials. The Sommerstad was steaming 
along the Long Island coast, about eleven knots at 8 o'clock yester- 
day morning, when the lookout man forward reported that he saw the 
wake of a torpedo coming toward the ship from starboard. The tor- 
pedo missed the bow by a narrow margin, and sped on for several 
yards, and then made a half circle and returned toward our ship 
which it struck on the port side amidships, exploding with terrific 
violence. Several of the watch on deck were knocked down by the 
force of the explosion, and the cook was blown, clean out of the galley. 

I saw the Sommerstad would not be afloat long and ordered the 
crew to lower the two boats. 

We saw no sign of a periscope, or a U-boat, and nothing disturbed 
the surface of the sea after we got into the boats. 

The Sommerstad filled so quickly, after the torpedo struck her, 
that in four minutes she had settled so deeply that her funnel was 
awash. The steamship began to sink by the stern, and as we got 
the boats clear her bow was pointing skywards. There was a slight 
fog hanging over the water which was calm, and scarcely any breeze. 
We made towards the Long Island shore, and rowed all day. 

Toward sundown we heard Fire Island's siren and made directly 
for the shore. Soon afterward we were sighted by the naval patrol 
vessel which brought us to this city. The men were tired with row- 
ing aU day, and were taken care of for the night on the patrol boat, 
and this morning we got into the lifeboat. There was no time to 
save any of our effects, and every member of the crew left her with 
only what we had on. 



24 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Still cruising soutli the 11-117 laid mines at intervals of 120 
miles between Sandy Hook and Cape Hatteras, and destroyed 
all vessels she met. A coastwise steamer reached ilSTew York 
August 14 with thirty-five survivors of the crew of the tanker 
Frederick E. Kellogg, torpedoed ten miles off Barnegat, ISTew 
Jersey. She was struck at six o'clock on the evening of the 
thirteenth, while on her way from Tampico to Boston with 
crude oil. No warning was given, and so terrific was the ex- 
plosion that seven of the crew lost their lives. According to 
the statement of the Captain the explosion of the torpedo burst 
open the vessel, and she sank in four minutes. A boat, on 
the davits on the port quarter, was smashed to splinters, and 
the life boat, further forwards, dashed against the ship and 
wrecked. This left a life boat, and a motor boat which had 
scarcely been lowered and made clear when the Kellogg sank. 
The crew had to jump overboard and swim for the boats. 
"Like most motor boats," said a member of the crew, "sup- 
plied to ocean-going steamships, ours could not be made to go, 
so we had to tow it with the lifeboat, which was slow work. 
The mate rigged up a lateen-shaped sail, like they use in the 
Mediterranean, which helped us a little. Most of our fellows 
were in a hurry to get off the tanker, because they were afraid 
the Hun boat would turn his guns on us, but we saw no signs 
of him until we got clear away. 

"As the rail of the Kellogg was just awash we saw a peri- 
scope appear above the surface of the calm sea, close to her 
side, and then the whole of the U-boat came into sight." 

From later reports it appeared she did not sink, but two days 
later was still afloat off Barnegat. 

The captain of the steam trawler Walrus now reported, that 
when seven miles off the Highland Light, Cape Cod, on his 
way to the fishing grounds, he sighted the conning tower of a 
submarine dead ahead. The U-boat submerged immediately, 
and a few minutes later the Captain saw the wake of a torpedo 
which missed his vessel by twenty feet. Aided by a light fog 
and calm sea he escaped. 



SUBMARINES OFF OUR COAST 25 

The five-masted schooner Dorothy Barrett, bound for a ISTew 
England port, was set on fire by shells from a submarine, 
August 14, twenty miles from Cape May, N'ew Jersey, where 
the Captain and crew landed. 

^'We were startled by a shot fired across our bow," said the 
Captain. "That was the first warning we had of a submarine. 
We saw nothing even then, but we went ahead and prepared to 
leave the vessel when the submarine appeared, and fired four 
more shots. Then it submerged, and came up again a hundred 
yards away, and circled about us. We were not hailed, and 
the U-boat apparently was waiting for us to leave. 

"By this time we had launched the dory, and all had gotten 
aboard. We tried to follow the periscope of the submersible, 
but the Germans apparently were not anxious for us to ap- 
proach, and really wanted us to get away. Finally, we started 
to row toward shore. 

"We rowed in about ten miles when we met a submarine de- 
stroyer coming out, attracted by the shots. I sent the crew on 
in, and returned on the destroyer to the spot where I had left 
my ship. When we got back to the place there were no signs 
either of our boat or the .submarine. The last we saw of our 
vessel she was in flames, and fast sinking, but whether the Ger- 
mans had boarded, and fired her, or she had taken fire from the 
shells, I do not know." 

Two seaplanes gave chase, but the submarine sighted them 
and submerged. Depth bombs were dropped where bubbles 
from the U-boat were seen, but no wreckage appeared, and the 
submarine was not seen again. 

On reaching Cape Hatteras the U-117 turned northeastward 
and, August 16, fell in with the Norwegian four-masted 
schooner Madrugada, off Winter Quarters Shoal on the Virginia 
coast, shortly after seven o'clock in the morning. Nobody came 
on deck, but a gun at once appeared forward of the conning 
tower, and opened fire on the Madrugada. While the gunners 
were firing at the port side, the crew lowered the lifeboat on the 
starboard side, pulled away to a safe distance, and waited to 



26 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

see wliat would happen. After firing eleven shots the sub- 
marine circled around the Madrugadd, came close to the life 
boat, and when the schooner sank, followed her under water. 
As a conservation of food measure the N^avy Department now 
decided to guard the fishing grounds. 

A report reached Beaufort, ISTorth Carolina, August 16, that 
an oil tank steamer was afire some twenty-five miles off Cape 
Hatteras and that a submarine was standing by. After fuller 
reports were received it appeared that the British oil tanker 
Mirlo when a few miles off Cape Hatteras was struck, on the 
evening of Friday, August 16, by two torpedoes and destroyed. 
Burning oil spread over the sea and in it ten of the crew 
perished. The captain was brought ashore in a seaplane and 
reported : 

We did not have a chance. The fact that so many of us got away 
is beyond any explanation I can make. We did not see the subma- 
rine, and we did not know one was anywhere near us. Two torpedoes 
hit us in rapid succession. Oil poured out of the ship and ignited. 
The whole sea was covered for about a mile and a half. We had 
no time to think about anything. We had to decide quickly. There 
were two things to do: take chances in a small boat in the burning 
sea, or go down with the ship. A tanker is a difficult boat to sink. 
They may turn over, and they may partly fill with water; but there 
are so many compartments, so many bulkheads that it is a hard mat- 
ter to send one to the bottom unless you destroy the ship entirely. 
The Mirlo was struck in two places, and the ship began to break. 
Both parts remained afloat for some time, and I cannot say now 
that they have sunk completely. The ship, however, is virtually 
destroyed. We faced death for more than an hour after we left the 
ship. Oil burned around our lifeboats, and my men suffered untold 
tortures. Nearly all of us were burned, some severely. Seven of my 
men are in a hospital with burned legs, arms, eyes and backs. They 
got first-aid treatment on the American patrol boat which reached 
us a few hours after we left the ship. 

Forty survivors of the crew were aided by boats sent out by 
the Coast Guard ; but were picked up by a patrol boat and taken 
to Hl^orfolk, Virginia. Seven were badly burned. 

One of the sailors said: 



SUBMARINES OFF OUR COAST 27 

After we got into the lifeboats our condition became worse. The 
sea was on fire for more than two miles. There was a fairly high 
sea and sometimes, when the waves beat against the sides of our 
boats, it threw burning oil in on us. We fought the fire as best we 
could. It could not be extinguished with water. We tried that, 
and it only added to our danger. We took oS our coats and beat the 
flames around the boats. When our coats caught fire, and we could 
no longer hold them in our hands, we took off our trousers, and beat 
the flames. When our trousers burned up we took off our shirts. 
We kept this up for nearly two hours before we got out of the flaming 
surface of the ocean. We lost our clothes fighting the fire. We 
saved only a few of them as it was, but we would have presented 
a better appearance than we do had we not had to sacrifice our coats 
and trousers to fight the flames. We did not see any submarines. Re- 
ports that a submarine came alongside and took off our oil is false. 
We had no warning whatever. A lookout reported sighting what he 
thought was the wake of a torpedo ; but it exploded against our sides 
almost at the same time that he made his report. Two of our crew 
were on fire in the lifeboats. One of the boats caught fire several 
times, and our hands were terribly burned in extinguishing the 
flames. In my boat three men were completely exhausted from fight- 
ing the flames. Eight of us were burned, four seriously. 

The captain of the British steamship Penistone, held for 
eight days a prisoner on the submarine that sank his vessel, 
reached Boston Augnst 19. With him came eight of the crew- 
of the ISTorwegian steamship San Jose, sunk by the U-117 
somewhere off ITantucket Island. Another JSTorwegian vessel, 
the bark Nordhave, was sunk a hundred miles off Cape Henry 
August 17. Her crew of twenty-six escaped in their boats and 
were brought to one of our ports in a war vessel. 

Strange stories were now told by captains of vessels that 
made port. One declared that when off the Virginia coast, 
near Winter Quarters Shoals, he rammed a submarine until 
the crew of the U-boat cried out that they were friends; that 
replying they were no friends of his he kept on his way and 
pointed to a badly damaged bow in proof of his statement. 
Another, an officer on a British tanker, told of a fight with a 
submarine, of the firing of twenty-six shots, and was sure the 
U-boat was sunk. This story was corrected by the Captain 



28 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

of the Penistone, then a prisoner on the submarine. All shots, 
he said, fell short and no damage was done to either party. 

Dories, containing crews of fishermen destroyed on the banks 
off ITova Scotia, reached a Canadian port August 21 and re- 
ported that the Germans had captured and armed the steam 
trawler Triumph. She left Portland, Maine, a few days be- 
fore. After her capture and armament, with a crew of sixteen 
Germans, she became a raider, attacked the fishing fleet and 
sank four vessels. Swift patrol boats and destroyers, the !Navy 
Department at once announced, would be sent and a cordon 
drawn around the place of her activity. Meantime the raid 
continued and in a few days she was known to have destroyed 
seven fishermen, almost the entire fleet of the Maritime Fish 
Corporation. 

Still going north the U-1 1 7 bombed a schooner on August 24, 
and sank an American fishing vessel on the 26th, a hundred and 
sixty miles from Cape Canso. The crew were ordered aboard 
the submarine and sent below while their vessel was destroyed. 
They were then put into their boats, were picked up by a fishing 
vessel and were landed at Cape Canso. On August 27, U-117 
torpedoed a steamer, without warning, south of Cape Eace. 
So quickly did it sink that all the boats could not be lowered 
and many of the crew were compelled to jump into the water. 

The U-117 now turned homeward, cruised around Cape Race, 
sank two schooners on August 30, and, September 9, was re- 
ported in company with UK-lJfO. During her cruise the 
U-117 sank twenty ships and ten sailing vessels, most of which 
were American, aggregating 19,913 tons. After the end of 
the war she was surrendered to the British, went to Harwich, 
and in May, 1919, in charge of American ofiicers and crew, was 
brought to Washington, moored to a wharf, and opened to in- 
spection by the public. 

While the U-117 was on her way home, the U-1 52 left Kiel, 
and September 30 fell in with the transport Ticonderoga some 
1,700 miles from our coast. The Ticonderoga was bound to 
France with a cargo of railway cars, and carried besides her 



SUBMARINES OFF OUR COAST 29 

crew, 113 officers and men of the army. She had fallen be- 
hind her convoy when sighted by the U-boat, which at once 
opened on her with shrapnel, and destroyed the bridge and 
radio house, and killed four members of a gun crew before the 
cruiser Oalveston hove in sight and forced the U-152 to sub- 
merge. An hour later she rose to the surface, renewed the 
attack, and finally reached the engine and fire rooms. A 
sheet was then hoisted on the Ticonderoga as a sign of sur- 
render, but the firing continued and the Captain, the executive 
officer and the first assistant engineer, having been wounded, 
the order was given to take to the boats. Most of them were 
riddled with shrapnel, but the Captain and 21 soldiers and 
sailors were put into the only uninjured boat, and 15 others 
found refuge on a raft. The Ticonderoga now sank and the 
U-boat came alongside the life boat and enquired for the cap- 
tain, but not finding him, took off two sailors. Later she 
picked up, from the wreckage, the executive officer, and going 
alongside the raft, took off the first assistant engineer, and put 
the two seamen on the raft. Those on the raft begged to be 
taken aboard the submarine, but the commander answered, he 
had room for no more, and left them to their fate. After drift- 
ing four days those in the boat were picked up by the Moorish' 
Prince, and carried to a port in the United States. 

Continuing her voyage the U-152 entered the Gulf Stream 
in search of Allied shipping, and while so engaged received a 
radio message "Engage men-of-war only. The merchant war 
is ended." N'evertheless, October 12, the ISTorwegian bark 
Stifinder was destroyed off the coast of Newfoundland and the 
crew left in their boats hundreds of miles from shore. Several 
duels with armed ships occurred between that day and October 
20, when the radio order, "All submarines return to Kiel," was 
received and obeyed. JN'ovember 11 U-152 reached the l^orth 
Sea mine barrier, passed through it on the surface, and the crew 
having voted not to interne, the armistice having been de- 
clared, she entered Kiel harbor, and ISTovember 15 made fast 
to the mother ship. The terms of the armistice required the 



so THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

surrender to Great Britain of all German submarines, ISTovem- 
ber 20 ; therefore, a number of tbem, one column led by TJ-155, 
the old DeutscMand, and the other by the JJ-152 with her 
former prisoners, Lieutenants F. L. Muller and J. H. Fulcher 
of the United States Navy on board, set off for Harwich. 

Since April, 1917, our navy which then consisted of three hun- 
dred and forty-four vessels fit for service and sixty-eight thou- 
sand officers and men had been increased to two thousand vessels 
of all sorts and more than five hundred and forty thousand 
officers and men. The Marines numbered nearly seventy-three 
thousand and the Coast Guard more than six thousand officers 
and men. Vessels of the navy had been in the White Sea, 
on the Moravian coast, in the !N^orth Sea, off the British Islands, 
in the Mediterranean, in the Adriatic, in the Caribbean Sea, off 
South America, had covered the Atlantic and had been on the 
Pacific from our own coast to Vladivostok. The little fleet 
of destroyers, which twenty-eight days after the declaration of 
war reached Queenstown under Admiral Sims, had been added 
to until he now commanded more than three hundred vessels 
of all sorts and more than seventy-five thousand men. 

Six battleships under Eear Admiral Rodman crossed in De- 
cember, 19 lY, and became part of a division of the British 
Grand Fleet. Others under Rear Admiral Rodgers had their 
base at Berehaven, on the coast of Ireland. Vice Admiral 
Wilson at Brest commanded the American forces on the French 
coast; Rear Admiral Niblack at Gibraltar commanded our ves- 
sels in the Mediterranean; and Rear Admiral Dunn was in 
charge of our naval base in the A-zores. !N'aval air stations were 
established on the coasts of England and Ireland and in France 
from the Spanish border to the Channel at out of the way 
places and on uninhabited islands and the whole line covered 
by seaplanes and dirigibles, l^aval aviators bombed the Ger- 
man submarine bases at Ostend and Zeebrugge, and fought 
enemy seaplanes over Heligoland Bight. 

ISTo piece of work done by the navy during the war surpasses 
the laying of the mine barrage from the Orkneys to Norway, 



SUBMARINES OFF OUR COAST 31 

across two hundred and thirty miles of the I^orth Sea. Sug- 
gested by Rear Admiral Earle in the early days of the war, the 
plan was carried out in 1918. One hundred thousand mines 
of a new type were made; a fleet of mine layers and trans- 
porters was built and manned; bases were established in Scot- 
land at Inverness and Invergorden, and Rear Admiral Strauss 
placed in charge. Of seventy-thousand two hundred mines 
used more than fifty-six thousand six hundred were laid by 
our I^avy. The transportation of more than two-million men 
with the loss of but a few hundred, and the transportation of 
supplies to the army and navy overseas with the loss of but a 
few cargo-carrying ships was another well-done task and greatly 
to the credit of the navy. During the height of the movement 
of troops and supplies in July and August, 1918, American 
destroyers convoyed into French ports two hundred and sixty 
thousand troops, and furnished three-fourths of the escorts for 
more than three hundred vessels to British ports, steaming 
nearly sixteen thousand hours and covering two hundred and 
sixty thousand miles. 

Concerning the work of the battleships. Hear Admiral Rod- 
man said, "In our operations in the l^orth Sea we were fre- 
quently attacked by submarines, and our battleships had numer- 
ous escapes, often only by prompt and skillful handling. On one 
occasion a submarine rammed the flagship New York, dented 
the bottom and demolished the starboard propeller. But there 
is every reason to believe that the blows from the propeller 
sank the submarine. En route to drydock to make repairs and 
instal a new propeller three torpedoes in rapid succession were 
fired at her by hostile submarines, but again she avoided them 
by clever maneuvering and escaped." On another occasion, off 
the ISTorway coast in midwinter, six torpedoes were fired at 
her; but again she escaped them. In April, 1918, when the 
Italians destroyed the Austrian naval base at Durazzo, Amer- 
ican submarine chasers took part in the bombardment, sank one 
submarine and, it was said, probably damaged another. 



CHAPTER II 

WAR WOEK AT HOME 

Long before the submarine bad finished its work of destruc- 
tion, in June, one of the many effects of its depredations was 
clearly shown in the eagerness of young men to help win the 
war. Day after day enlistment stations were crowded with 
men seeking service in the army, the navy, the merchant ma- 
rine. None of draft age were accepted for the army ; yet each 
day in the great cities scores of men under 21 or over 31 joined 
the colors. ISTo such restriction applied to the navy, or to the 
marines, and in these branches of the service hundreds enlisted. 
Reports from the Sea Service Bureau showed that even the 
Merchant Marine had felt the good effects of the German chal- 
lenge to merchant shipping, and that all previous records of 
enlistments had been broken during the first week in June. 
^'The enemy is at our gates," one applicant was reported to 
have said, "and it is up to us to hit back." To these volunteers 
were now added all men who came of age between June 5, 1917, 
and midnight of June 4, 1918, for they had been summoned to 
appear, June 5, before their respective boards and register. On 
the eve of registration Provost Marshal General Crowder ad- 
dressed to them a message. 

On the 5th of June, 1917, just one year ago to-morrow, occurred 
one of the most memorable events in the history of democratic insti- 
tutions. 

On that day 10,000,000 seK-govemed young Americans marched 
quietly to the polls, and in a voice that was heard around the -world, 
registered their invincible determination to preserve for themselves, 
and their posterity, the blessings of the liberty with which they have 
been so richly endowed. 

A year has passed. Many of these men are now on the battlefields 

32 



WAR WORK AT HOME 33 

of France, .and on to-morrow, the 5th of June, that voice will have 
found its echo when 1,000,000 more will rally to their support. 

The nation is engaged in a struggle for its existence. Our activi- 
ties have been diverted from the normal peacetime channels, and 
the energy of those who remain at home is being directed more 
closely, every day, toward the accomplishment of the things upon 
which our armies must depend, and without which success is impos- 
sible. 

Every American must do his duty in this great crisis, even though 
he remains at home. Those who are of such an age, and condition 
in life, that they may, without detriment to the economic support 
of the army, actively oppose themselves against our enemy on the 
European battlefields, are indeed privileged. 

Most of the men who register to-morrow will be so classified, and 
I have no hesitancy in predicting that their services will win for 
them the undying affection of a proud and grateful nation. 

At least 1,011,598 men, it was expected by the Census Bu- 
reau, would register ; but when returns from the eight and forty 
States and the District of Columbia were received the number 
was found to be 744,868, or 266,724 short of the estimate of 
the Census Bureau. But the number of men, twenty-one years 
old, who, during the year, enlisted in the army, navy, and 
marine corps was 208,588, and when to these was added the 
number of aliens who need not register, the figures rose to- 
998,551, or but 13,000 below the Census Bureau estimate. 

June 27 was the day fixed for the draft, which was conducted 
in the same manner as the great one of 1917. The place was 
again a room in the Senate Building, where, in the same glass 
jar used the year before, were deposited 1200 master numbers 
concealed in blacT<: capsules. As each was drawn from the 
bowl it was broken by an attendant, the number announced 
and verified by two men, and then written on tally sheets, and 
on a blackboard of which, in time, a photograph was taken and 
kept as a record. 

Since the great registration of June, 1917, a new system 
of classification of registrants had gone into effect. In J^ovem- 
ber a questionnaire had been sent out, and in accordance with 
his sworn answer each registrant had been placed in one of five 



34 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

classes. Tlie effect of classification in Class I was to make him 
liable to be called for service at an early day, for in it were 
included single men without dependent relatives ; married men 
who habitually failed to support their families ; married men 
dependent on their wives for support; married men supported 
by income independent of labor; unskilled farm laborers; un- 
skilled industrial laborers; and registrants who did not claim 
deferred classification, or did not answer the questionnaire, or 
were not included in any other class. Classification in Class 
II granted the draftee temporary discharge from draft until 
Class I, in the jurisdiction of his Local Board, was exhausted. 
Class III became liable only when Classes I and II, in the 
jurisdiction of their Local Boards, were exhausted, and Class 
TV when Classes I, II and III were spent. Classification in 
Class Y was equivalent to exemption, or discharge from draft, 
and in it were included, legislative, executive and judicial 
officers of the United States, the States, the territories, and the 
District of Columbia; ministers of religion; students of the- 
ology on May 18, 1917; all in military, or naval service of the 
United States; alien enemies; resident aliens claiming exemp- 
tion; all permanently physically unfit for military service; all 
morally unfit to be a soldier of the United States, and pilots 
actually engaged in their vocation. 

JSTearly every man drawn on June 5, 1918, was able bodied, 
unmarried, without dependents and not engaged in an essen- 
tial industry. It was announced, therefore, that they would be 
placed at the bottom of Class I, now almost exhausted. Day 
after day thousands of the old registrants were moving into 
the cantonments to take the place of those already sent across 
the sea. 

That men in Class I should be trained to fight, while those 
in the deferred class should be free to follow occupations which 
counted for nothing in our effort to win the war, seemed neither 
just, nor good policy. Provost Marshal Crowder, therefore, 
with the approval of the President and the Secretary of War, 
issued what was popularly known as his "work or fight" order, 



WAR WORK AT HOME 35 

requiring all men of draft age, wliO' were habitual idlers or 
engaged in non-essential industries, to appear before their Local 
Boards before July 1, 1918, and explain why they were not 
working in essential industries, or find occupation therein. 

Idlers were defined to be "gamblers of all descriptions,, bucket 
shop and race track attendants, fortune tellers, clairvoyants, 
palmists, and the like." Men in non-essential occupations were 
clerks and salesmen in stores and mercantile houses; persons 
in domestic service, doormen, footmen ; and attendants at clubs, 
hotels, apartment houses, office buildings; persons engaged in 
games and sports, and amusements, save actual performances in 
operas and plays, and all who served food or drink in hotels, 
clubs or public places. Direct industrial conscription, it was 
explained, was not possible at this time. But the effect of the 
new regulation would be to force men out of occupations not 
essential to winning the war, and put them into war work 
that was essential. It meant a greater number of men avail- 
able for the production of war material or, if drawn into im- 
mediate service, the prevention of any drain on men engaged 
in war industries, and the postponement of any call on the 
deferred classes until the advanced classes were exhausted. 
!N^on-essential workers would not be permitted to seek exemption- 
because they had drawn a late order number, or had been placed 
in Class II, III or IV on the ground of dependency. The 
fact that they were not usefully employed would outweigh all 
other considerations. To take men from the farms, from the 
mills and factories, and out of essential employments, and 
march them away to training camps, "past crowds of idlers 
and loafers," was worse than foolish. We were not fighting 
armies, but nations in arms. Civilization was facing life or 
death, and we, too, must, as a nation, drop idleness and vain 
pleasures. 

At least half a million men, it was estimated, would, by the 
order, be made available for the army, and another half million 
be turned into necessary industries. ■ 

In June, General Crowder told the Senate Committee on 



S36 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Military Affairs that an extension of the draft age would be 
necessary, because all men in Class I would be exhausted before 
June, 1919. Of the 2,248,000 men in that class 1,347,000 
had already been called to the colors. Some 400,000 more 
would be secured from those who registered on June 5, and 
200,000 would be obtained from the re^examination of the 
questionnaires and reclassification. Thus by the first of August 
3,000,000 men would be under arms. 

He urged, therefore, that the draft age limits be extended 
from eighteen to forty-five, not only to obtain more fighting 
men, but to apply the "work or fight" rule to slackers above 
thirty years of age. There was no intention to call into the 
army, at once, all eligible men between these ages, but to enable 
the Government to draft older single men with no dependents, 
and leave untouched the younger married men, with children, 
then in the deferred Class. When, therefore, towards the close 
of June, the Senate had under debate the army appropriation 
bill, carrying appropriations amounting to $12,000,000,000, 
Senator Fall, of New Mexico, introduced an amendment fixing 
the age limits at 20 and 42, and Senator France, of Maryland, 
an amendment providing for the industrial enrollment of men 
and women between 18 and 45 years of age that they might 
be drawn into occupations for which they were best suited. 
The President approved of both, but did not wish them adopted 
at that time, nor made part of the appropriation bill. The 
Fall amendment was accordingly defeated. 

The Allies now called on the United States to maintain an 
army, of 120 divisions of 40,000 men each, overseas, and a 
reserve force of 1,000,000 at home under arms. This com- 
pletely changed the plans of the War Department, and led it 
to adopt a program calling for 80 divisions, or 3,200,000 men 
overseas, and a reserve of eighteen divisions, or 720,000 men 
under arms and in training at home. Lack of ships to trans- 
port and maintain 120 divisions had forced the modification. 
To get men for so great an army it was necessary to extend 
the draft age limits at once, and August 5 a bill, submitted 



WAR WORK AT HOME 87 

by the Secretary of War, was introduced into Lotli houses of 
Congress. It provided for the extension of the limits to eigh- 
teen and forty-five. Under such a law, General Crowder be- 
lieved, that 13,200,644 men would register; that 10,028,973 
would be between the ages of thirty-one and forty-five, and 
3,171,671 between eighteen and twenty, making the total num- 
ber of men registered since June 5, 1917, some 23,000,000. 
There were then abroad, he said, 1,300,000 troops, and the 
plan was to add to them 250,000 men a month until the end 
of the year, when there would thus be overseas an American 
army of 2,300,000 men. If this program were to be carried 
out the bill must be passed before the end of August. In that 
event the President could issue his proclamation fixing regis- 
tration day as early as September 5. If the new men in Glass 
I were to be in camp in October, registration day must not be 
later than September 15. Believing that Congress when it 
reassembled, after a short recess, August 26, would pass the 
bill, steps had already been taken to act at once. State head- 
quarters, local boards and other officials in all the States had 
been notified to be ready. The situation was urgent, for, by 
October 1, Class I, under the ages fixed by the draft act of 
1917, would be exhausted, and must be replenished at the 
earliest possible moment. During the discussion of the bill 
several amendments were offered, but the struggle was around 
that known as the "work or fight" amendment which, in its 
final form, read: 

That when any person shall have been placed in a deferred or ex- 
empted class for any of the reasons in this paragraph set forth, he 
shall not be entitled to remain therein unless he shall in good faith 
continue, while physically able so to do, to work at and follow such 
occupation, employment, or business, and if he fails so to do, he shall 
again become subject to the draft. The President shall make regula- 
tions for enforcing this provision. 

This proviso shall not apply in the case of a strike, if the strikers 
have submitted, or will at once submit, the dispute to the War Labor 
Board, agree to abide and do abide by its decision, and do at once 
resume work and continue work pending such decision. The said 



S8 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

board shall take up and decide all such disputes as speedily as prac- 
ticable. 

To any such provision Mr. Gompers objected. It was a re- 
flection on the services and loyalty of the workers of our coun- 
try. Here and there, he said, a few might have failed to do 
their full duty, but, taken as a whole, the workmen were doing 
their full duty, and rendering every aid possible to win the war. 
!N"evertheless, it was adopted by the Senate, was stricken out 
by the House, was abandoned in conference, and the bill was 
passed without it. August 31 the act was signed by the Presi- 
dent who immediately issued a proclamation requiring all men 
between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, not already regis- 
tered, or not in the military or naval service of the United 
States, to register on September 12. 

In this proclamation the President said: 

Fifteen months ago the men of the country from twenty-one to 
thirty-one years of age were registered. Three months ago, and 
again last month, those who had just reached the age of twenty-one 
were added. It now remains to include all men between the ages of 
eighteen and forty-five. 

This is not a new policy. A century and a quarter ago it was 
deliberately ordained by those who were then responsible for the 
safety and defense of the nation that the duty of military service 
should rest upon all able-bodied men between the ages of eighteen 
and forty-five. We now accept and fulfill the obligation which they 
established, an obligation expressed in our national statutes from 
that time until now. We solemnly purpose a decisive victory of arms, 
and deliberately to devote the larger part of the military man-power 
of the nation to the accomplishment of that purpose. 

The younger men have from the first been ready to go. They have 
furnished voluntary enlistments out of all proportions to their num- 
bers. Our military authorities regard them as having the highest 
combatant qualities. Their youthful enthusiasm, their virile eager- 
ness, their gallant spirit of daring make them the admiration of all 
who see them in action. They covet not only the distinction of serv- 
ing in this great war, but also the inspiring memories, which hun- 
dreds of thousands of them will cherish through years to come, of a 
great day and a great service for their country and for mankind. 

By the men of the older group now called upon, the opportunity 



WAR WORK AT HOME 39 

now open to them will be accepted with the calm reassurance of 
those who realize to the full the deep, the solemn significance of 
what they do. Having made a place for themselves in their re- 
spective communities, having assumed at home the graver responsi- 
bilities of life in many spheres, looking back upon honorable indus- 
trial records, they will realize, perhaps, as no others could, how en- 
tirely their own fortunes, and the fortunes of all whom they love, 
are put at stake in this war for right, and will know the very records 
they have made render this new duty the commanding duty of their 
lives. They know how surely this is the nation's war, how impera- 
tively it demands the mobilization and massing of all our resources 
of every kind. They will regard this call as the supreme call of their 
day and will answer it accordingly. 

Only a portion of those who register will be called upon to bear 
arms. Those who are not physically fit will be excused; those 
exempted by alien allegiance; those who should not be relieved of 
the present responsibilities; above all, those who cannot be spared 
from the civil and industrial tasks at home upon which the success 
of our armies depends as much as upon the fighting at the front. 
But all must be registered in order that the selection for military 
service may be made intelligently, and with full information. 

This will be our final demonstration of loyalty, democracy, and 
the will to win; our solemn notice to all the world that we stand 
absolutely together in a common resolution and purpose. It is the 
call to duty to which every true man in the country will respond 
with pride and with the consciousness, that in doing so, he plays ^ 
his part in vindication of a great cause at whose summons every true 
heart offers its supreme service. 

So rapidly were young men sent to the training camps, that, 
by the middle of August, Class I was almost exhausted. To 
meet the call for 200,000 men for the camps during September, 
it must be replenished. Therefore, the President, by proclama- 
tion, summoned all men who came of age between June 5 and 
August 24 to register on the latter day. General Crowder be- 
lieved that they would number at least 150,000, and that one- 
half of them would be available for Class I. The day chosen 
was a Saturday. All who observed that day as a Sabbath were 
to register on the following Monday. 

There would be no drawing at Washington to determine the 



40 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

order in whicli they were to be called; they would be treated 
as belated registrants. "It will not be necessary," said Gen- 
eral Crowder, "to hold another drawing in Washington to de- 
termine the order of liability to service of those who will regis- 
ter on August 24. The same method will be followed as that 
adopted for belated registrants whose names went on the books 
after June 5 last. In other words, advantage will be taken 
of the fact that enough numbers were drawn in the official 
drawing of June 27, 1918, to fix tte orders of liability not 
only for all who registered June 5, 1918, but for all who are 
expected to be enrolled on August 24. Altogether, 1,200 num- 
bers were drawn at that time, although the total number of 
registrants in any one registration district on June 5 did not 
exceed two-thirds of that number. Thus, one-third of these 
numbers are available for distribution among the new r^s- 
trants. 

"This distribution will be made by the Adjutant General, or 
draft executive, in each State, for each of the registration dis- 
tricts under his jurisdiction, copies of all registration cards, 
with blank spaces for the numbers, having been furnished him. 
He will pick the available numbers at random and assign them 
according to the order in which he takes up the registration 
cards. W^hen a registrant has thus received his number he will 
be able, by reference to the official drawing of June 27, 1918, 
to which he will have access, to determine the order in which 
he will be called." 

Preparations, made in the great centers of population for 
speedy registration in September, were most interesting. In 
'New York City, where upwards of 900,000 men were expected 
to register, the registration districts were 189; the registrars, 
clerks and interpreters, for fifty-two foreign languages are 
spoken in that city, appointed to aid the District Boards num- 
bered 12,000, or one for every 80 registrants, and extra regis- 
trars and interpreters were gathered at the headquarters of 
the Director of the Draft ready to be sent by automobile to 
any district where the registration became unexpectedly large. 



WAR WORK AT HOME 41 

On the appointed day the Stock Exchange, the Cotton Ex- 
change, the Public Schools were closed, and corporations em- 
ploying large numbers of men of draft age gave them time to 
register in order to decrease as much as possible the last minute 
rush at night. 

When the returns from all the States were made it was 
found that 13,228,000 men between the ages of eighteen and 
twenty-one and thirty-one and forty-five had registered. In 
all registrations the number of men registered for selective 
service was 23,709,000. !N'othing now remained but to fix 
upon the time when the great draft should be made. Monday, 
September 30, was chosen, and on that day the President, blind- 
folded, in the Caucus room on the second floor of the Senate 
Building, drew, from the historic glass bowl used for the draft 
of 1917, one of the 17,000 black capsules it contained. The 
number was 322 ; whereupon each man who had received that 
number in each of the 4557 registration districts where there 
were so many as 322 registrants became l^o. 1 in order of lia- 
bility to be called for service by his district board. Each of 
the 10,500 master numbers drawn from the bowl in July, 1917, 
were announced by the press. On this occasion only the first 
one hundred were made public. The others were to be an- 
nounced to the registrants by their district boards when they 
received their questionnaires. 

Drafting young men under twenty-one years of age, it was 
clearly foreseen, would seriously affect the education of those 
in High Schools and Colleges. Section Seven of the Act, 
therefore, provided that the Secretary of War might "assign to 
educational institutions, for special and technical training, sol- 
diers who enter the military service under the provisions of this 
Act, in such numbers and under such regulations as he may 
prescribe; and is authorized to contract with such educational 
institutions for the subsistence, quarters and military and aca- 
demic instruction of such soldiers." Every student, from 18 
to 21, it was explained, who wished to continue his studies at 
High School or College, might enter the Students Army Train- 



42 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

ing Corps, have all his college expenses paid hy the Govern- 
ment, receive $30 a month pay, and become a soldier in the 
United States Army, uniformed and subject to military disci- 
pline and training. 

The course of study and the time were prescribed by the 
Military Authorities, whose aim it was to have the students 
trained as officer candidates and technical experts to meet the 
needs of the service. Upwards of five hundred universities, 
colleges and technical schools were called on to state how many 
they could take, and 145,012 were finally accepted. At noon 
on October 1 this splendid body of young Americans was duly 
mobilized, and standing under the Stars and Stripes at the 
respective institutions, took the oath of allegiance and listened 
to the reading of messages from President Wilson, the Acting 
Secretary of War, and the Chief of Staff. 

The step you have taken, said the President, is a most significant 
one. By it you have ceased to be merely individuals, each seeking 
to perfect himself to win his own place in the world, and have become 
comrades in the common cause of making the world a better place 
to live in. You have joined yourself with the entire manhood of 
the country and pledged, as did your forefathers, "your lives, your 
fortunes, and your sacred honor" to the freedom of humanity. 

The enterprise upon which you have embarked is a hazardous and 
difficult one. This is not a war of words; this is not a scholastic 
struggle. It is a war of ideals, yet fought with all the devices of 
science, and with the power of machines. To succeed you must not 
only be inspired by the ideals for which this country stands, but 
you must also be masters of the technique with which the battle is 
fought. You must not only be thrilled with the zeal for the common 
welfare, but you must also be masters of the weapons of to-day. 

There can be no doubt of the issue. The spirit that is revealed, 
and manner in which Americans responded to the caU, is indomitable. 
I have no doubt that you will use your utmost strength to maintain 
that spirit, and to carry it forward to the final victory that will 
certainly be ours. 

The Acting Secretary of War said: 

As college students you are accustomed to contests of physical 
force. You are familiar with the tedious training and self-sacrific- 



WAR WORK AT HOME 43 

ing discipline that are required to develop a team that can win the 
game. You know that the contest is won by team work, push, 
enthusiastic cooperation with one another, and coordination of every 
individual talent to the single purpose of common success. 

In the military struggle in which you are about to enter, the same 
conditions prevail. In order to succeed, many weeks of thorough- 
going training and drill are essential to develop the coordination of 
skill and imagination that is essential to achieving the vast and 
vital end to which the country has pledged its every effort. The 
fighting machine will come into effective working order more rapidly 
in proportion as each individual in it devotes his full attention to 
the particular service for which he is best qualified. In entering 
upon this training as student soldiers you have the opportunity of 
developing your abilities to the point where they will be most effec- 
tive in the common struggle. 

I am sure that you will do this in the same spirit, and with the 
same enthusiasm that you have always exhibited in the lesser struggles 
to which you have been accustomed to devote your energies. I am 
sure that you will rise to this opportunity and show that America, 
the home of the pioneer, the inventor, and the master of machines, 
is ready and able to turn its every energy to the construction of an 
all-powerful military machine which will prove as effective in liberat- 
ing men as have the reaper, the airplane, and the telephone. 

General Peyton C. March, Chief of Staff of the Army, re- 
minded the boys of the great opportunity that opened before^ 
them. 

The Students Army Training Corps has been organized to assist 
in training a body of men from whom the United States will draw 
officer material in large niunbers. The need for these officers is one 
of the most imperative orders connected with our large army program, 
and patriotic young men wiU be given an opportunity to acquire 
this training, with the knowledge that they will thus be enabled to 
better serve their country in the great drive which is to come. 
Superior leadership spells success in war, and it is the duty of every 
member of the Students Army Training Corps to do his utmost to 
qualify as a leader of men. 

While preparations for the draft were under way, renewed 
efforts were made to reach the slackers, the men who had not 
registered for the previous draft, and those who had not an- 



44 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

swered the questionnaire. For months past not only the Det- 
partment of Justice but the American Protective League, the 
secret service of the Council of N^ational Defense, and scores 
of private local organizations had b^n busy seeking for men 
who shirked the call of tbeir country. Since registration day, 
June 5, 1917, some 25,000 had been captured. In June, 1918, 
ball parks, theaters, moving-picture houses, bar rooms, pool- 
rooms, restaui-ants, parks, railway stations, steamboat docks, 
every place where young men were likely to gather, were raided 
by police officers and agents of the American Protective League, 
and 300 who had not registered and 4,000 who had not filed 
questionnaires were arrested. In Ohio 1,000 were found in 
one day. Aoid so it was the country over. Hundreds had 
fled to Mexico where life, according to General Crowder, was 
far from pleasant. Even there the man with the yellow streak 
was heartily despised. Such as had means, and had "estab- 
lished a sort of colony" in Mexico City were "ostracized com- 
pletely, not only by other American residents above draft age, 
but by the natives as well." Those without funds were in 
desperate straits, "l^ative and foreign business houses alike 
refused them employment. At Guanajuato, for example, not 
only a crowd of these slackers, applying for work at the mines, 
was refused employment in spite of a labor shortage, but a 
committee of Americans living there is reported to have waited 
on them with a demand that they leave the town in a specified 
number of hours." In this work the women "in all communi- 
ties, particularly those having relatives who have gone to the 
front," according to General Crowder, had been most helpful, 
"in ferreting out young men who failed to register." To en- 
courage them in this good work, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, 
chairwoman of the Woman's Committee of the Council of 
ISTational Defense, now made an appeal. 

A new and imperative call comes to the women of our land from 
which at first there may be a spirit of shrinking, but the splendid 
response which the patriotic women of America have made to every 
call of their eoiintry assures us of a willing and courageous compli- 



WAR WORK AT HOME 51 

Before the first of August more than 1,300,000 men of all 
sorts were under the command of General Pershing. In the 
opinion of the German press these statements were untrue. 
"Mr. Baker," said the Koelnische Zeitung, "thinks he will be 
able to dissipate all doubts about the correctness of his figures 
with his recitations. It is, however, only the usual American 
bluif. We know from reliable sources that the figures in ques- 
tion are inordinately exaggerated, and in no way correspond 
to the truth." Vice Admiral von Capelle belittled our aid 
both in men and ships : 

The military help of America in the first year of the war was very 
little regarding troops and airplanes. The expectation of our ene- 
mies has been greatly disappointed. If America wants to maintain 
half a million troops in France it will need permanently a freight 
space (in steamships) of about 2,000,000 tons, which would be taken 
from the service of supplying her allies. 

According to American and British statements, the participation 
of such a large army is no longer involved in this campaign. 

In order to carry out the gigantic American program of shipping 
construction, the shipyards must first be built. In 1917 America, 
following all her huge promises, built 750,000 gross tons of sea-going 
ships. The large merchant fleet which America has ordered is not 
being built for the war, but in order to take the place of England as 
the world's shipper after the war, when the ships will have been com- 
pleted. 

Our ship building was no subject for contempt. Stimulated 
by the work of the submarines in foreign waters, and by the 
growing demand for an American Merchant Marine, our ship 
yards, while we were still neutral, had been pressed with orders, 
and had so expanded their capacities that, by the close of 1916, 
some fifty thousand gross tons of wooden ships, and a million 
and a half tons of steel ships were under construction and 
likely to be finished within two years. When we entered the 
war two million eight hundred thousand dead weight tons of 
steel shipping was under way in private yards. This the Presi- 
dent could commandeer; but it was far below our need, and 
by midsummer the Emergency Fleet Corporation, by encour- 



52 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

aging the expansion of old and the building of new yards, had 
been able to contract for a million eight hundred thousand tons 
more, and it seemed possible to finish at least three million tons 
in eighteen months. Even this was not enough. To feed and 
maintain every man sent to France would require five tons of 
shipping space per annum. Three million tons more were 
needed at once, if we were to send an army of several million 
men, and to get them in the shortest possible space of time, the 
Fleet Corporation adopted the fabricated ship. Almost every 
ship built since the world began had been made to order. Now 
ships must be standardized, their parts made by hundreds in 
shops scattered over the country, and assembled and put to- 
gether in the shipyards. Not all the yards in the country could 
build the needed ships as quickly as required. To hasten the 
work, therefore, the greatest shipyard in the world was con- 
structed. The site chosen for it was Hog Island, on the Dela- 
ware Kiver near Philadelphia. On the September day, 1917, 
when the contract for the ships was signed, the Island was a 
scrubby wooded tract -unconnected by rail or trolley with any- 
where. Yet, on this island in ten months' time were built, side 
by side, for a mile and a quarter along the river, fifty ship 
ways; and stretching along another mile and a quarter, outfit- 
ting basins, with seven great piers each a thousand feet long 
and berths for twenty-eight ships; a barracks for six thousand 
workmen ; hundreds of buildings for every sort of use, a hotel, 
a hospital, indeed, a city of no mean size. 

August 5, 1918, the first steel cargo carrier built at Hog 
Island was launched. But others had been built elsewhere, 
and from a few tons of shipping completed and delivered to 
the Shipping Board in January, 1918, the output grew steadily, 
month by month, until, in May, two hundred and sixty thou- 
sand tons of shipping were delivered. Among the forty-three 
steel ships then completed was the Agawan, the first fabricated 
vessel in the world. Another, the tanker TucJcahoe, launched 
at Camden, New Jersey, was finished and in the water 27 days, 
3 hours and 43 minutes after the workmen began to lay the 



WAR WORK AT HOME 53 

keel. Ten days later, complete in every part, lier trial trip 
over, she was delivered to tlie Shipping Board and one week 
from that day began her maiden voyage. 

Even this fine record was outdone in the case of the destroyer 
Ward, whose keel was laid at the Mare Island iN'avy Yard, in 
California, and whose hull, eighty-four per cent, completed, was 
launched seventeen and a half days later. 

As the fourth of July drew near the Chairman of the Ship- 
ping Board appealed to the ship builders to make their cele- 
bration of Independence Day the launching of as many ships 
as could possibly be ready. None were to be held back; only 
such were to go into the water on the Fourth as, by extra 
exertion, were finished ahead of schedule time. The response 
was hearty; the workmen gave up their usual Saturday half 
holidays, worked over time, accepted only regular pay instead 
of time and half time for extra hours, and so speeded the build- 
ing that on Independence Day ninety-five vessels, destroyers, 
transports, cargo carriers, forty-two of steel and fifty-three of 
wood, in fifty-nine shipyards scattered along our Atlantic and 
Pacific coasts, the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico, all 
destined to help win the war, stood on their ways ready to be . 
launched. Eleven were held by a freshet on the Columbia 
River; two stuck on the ways, but eighty-two went into the 
water and 474,464 tons, dead weight, were added to our marine, 
an amount far in excess of all our tonnage destroyed by Ger- 
man U-boats since the war began in 1914. This was, indeed, 
a declaration of independence of German ruthlessness, and as 
such it was hailed abroad and at home. "I have just heard 
that one hundred ships have been launched in the United 
States," Lloyd George telegraphed to President Wilson, "Heart- 
felt congratulations on the magnificent performance." From 
our fighting men in France came the words, "The launching of 
one hundred ships on the Fourth of July is the most inspiring 
news that has come to us. With such backing we cannot fail to 
win. All hail the American shipbuilders !" To the workers in 
every shipyard where a launching took place the Chairman of 



54 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

the Shipping Board sent tlie message : "Our historic launchings 
to-day are a new Declaration of Independence." When the 
month ended 236,130 tons of shipping had been delivered to 
Government account, and September 1 found 340,145 tons 
added, which raised the output since January 1, 1918, to 
1,650,000 tons. 

As, month after month, hundreds of thousands of our boys 
were sent to fight in France, the need of food conservation at 
home grew greater and greater. JSTot only must they have 
ample supplies, but our Allies must be aided as heretofore. 
The demand for our beef, Mr. Hoover said, was beyond present 
supply. It would, therefore, be a real service to our army, 
and to the Allies, if our people would substitute pork, bacon, 
and ham for beef products. 

The public will realize that the changing conditions of production 
from season to season, the changing situation in shipping and, there- 
fore, of the markets available to the AlHes, and the increasing demand 
for our growing army, with the fluctuating supply of local beef in 
France, all make it impossible to determine policies for a long period 
in advance. We have recently asked for economy in all meat con- 
sumption ; we wish now to emphasize further reduction of beef by the 
substitution of pork. It is anticipated that this program will hold 
good until September 15, and the cooperation of the public is most 
earnestly requested. 

Two ounces of Victory bread, and four ounces of combread 
containing not more than one-third of wheat, might be served 
each person, each meal; but when this allowance had been 
given no other bread or cereal product of which wheat was a 
part could be eaten at the same meal, ^o hotel, no restaurant 
or club could consume more than six pounds of wheat flour 
for each ninety meals served, nor could any wheat products be 
served unless ordered, nor bread or rolls be placed on the table 
until the meal was served and then only in individual portions. 
Boiled beef was to be used at but two meals each week; roast 
beef at but one, and beef steak at but ona 'No sugar bowls 
were to be placed on the tables. All sugar must be served in 



WAR WORK AT HOME 55 

individual portions of not more than two lumps, or one-half 
ounce per person, with tea or coffee, or one ounce with cereals 
or fresh fruit, and must not be u^ed for icings or coatings of 
cakes, or in sherbets or water ices. 

In obedience to this order it was arranged that at clubs, 
hotels, restaurants and public eating places, roast beef should 
be served at the midday meal on Mondays; stewed and boiled 
beef on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and steaks on Thursdays 
at midday. N^o restriction was placed on the use of such by- 
products as liver, tongue, sweetbreads and kidneys. 

By July the scarcity of sugar became a matter of very serious 
concern, and new regulations were issued. Householders were 
asked, as a patriotic duty, not to use more than three pounds per 
person each month, and as much less as possible. City re- 
tailers were not to sell more than two pounds to any one person 
at any one time, and country retailers not more than five 
pounds, save for canning purposes. Commercial users of 
sugar were arranged in five classes; makers of candy, soft 
drinks, chocolate, cocoa, syrup, sweet pickles, operators of soda 
fountains; hotels, restaurants, clubs, hospitals, dining cars, 
steamships, boarding houses caring for more than twenty-five 
persons ; bakers and cracker makers ; retail stores. Persons in 
each class, before July 15, must make a report of all sugar on 
hand, or in transit, July 1. Whatever was in excess of three 
months' supply was to be taken over and redistributed. Con- 
sumption was to be limited to fifty per cent, of normal. 

Shortage of sugar was due, to the needs of the army for 
transports which reduced the number of ships bringing sugar 
from Hawaii and the West Indies; to smaller crops in sugar 
producing countries; to shortage in the Louisiana cane supply 
and in the domestic sugar beet crop; to destruction of beet 
sugar factories in France and Italy, and to the sinking of sugar 
carrying ships by submarines. July 24, therefore, the ration 
was cut to two pounds per person each month for the next five 
months. To keep down the price of sugar, the President 
created a Sugar Board with authority to buy, even at a loss 



56 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

to the Government, the output of all sugar beet factories that 
could not be sold at a reasonable price, and resell it at a sta- 
bilized price. 

Wonderful were the results of this voluntary rationing. 
During the fiscal year ending with June, 1918, more than three 
billion pounds of meats and fats, an increase of eight hundred 
and forty-four million pounds over the year previous ; more than 
three hundred and forty million bushels of cereals, an increase 
of eighty-one million bushels over the shipments of 1916-191Y, 
were sent overseas to the Allies and our army. Nearly one hun- 
dred and fifty-five million bushels of these foodstuffs were for 
the Allies, and over and above this, in response to their appeal 
for an extra seventy-five million bushels of wheat, we sent them 
eighty-five million at the very time our surplus was more than 
exhausted, for the wheat crop had been very short, and corn 
had largely failed to mature. Wheat shipments to the Allies, 
therefore, represented savings from our wheat bread consump- 
tion. When July, 1918, ended, the Allies' food crisis had 
passed away, and the Food Administrator, then in London, by 
cablegram, released hotels, restaurants, and the dining car ser- 
vice from their voluntary pledge to use no wheat until the 
harvest was gathered. After August 1 they need observe only 
the Food Administrator's baking regulation, and serve Victory 
bread. In the course of his conference, at London, with the 
Food Administrators of the Allied Nations, Mr. Hoover agreed 
to adopt an international Victory loaf containing eighty per 
cent, of wheat and twenty per cent, of substitutes. This new 
regulation went into effect on September 1, 1918, when wheat- 
less days and wheatless meals were abolished. 

This did not mean that food saving was ended. Before the 
close of September Mr. Hoover was forced to make another 
appeal. "There is," he said, "no prospect of an end to the 
war before the campaign of the summer of 1919. To win, 
even then, we must put three and a half million troops in 
France. To accomplish this we must not only find the men, 
the ships, and thei equipment for our arniy, but our army, the 



WAR WORK AT HOME 57 

Allied armies, and the Allied civil population, must have ample 
food meantime. The food problem is no small part of our 
efforts to win the war. To carry our army to France we must 
not only build all the ships we can, but the Allies must help, 
and to help they must take food ships from the more distant 
markets. We must cut down our imports of sugar, coffee, and 
tropical fruits and feed the Allies more generously than ever 
before. We must send for our army, the Allied armies and 
civilians, for Belgian relief, and for certain neutrals who de- 
pend on us, two million six hundred thousand tons of meat 
and fats; ten million four hundred thousand tons of bread- 
stuffs ; one million eight hundred thousand tons of sugar ; and 
two million seven hundred thousand tons of feed grains, in all, 
seventeen million five hundred and fifty thousand tons as 
against eleven million eight hundred and twenty thousand tons 
during the year ending July 1, 1918." Under directions from 
the President the Food Administrator had assured the Allies 
that "in this common cause we eat at a common table." At best 
the Allied table would be less than ours, for the Allies were 
denying themselves more, in order to provide ships to carry 
our soldiers. Of sugar there was enough, at the then rate of 
consumption, for ourselves and the Allies without forcing them 
to send ships to the Far East. What coffee we needed could 
be brought in sailing ships if no one made "an over-brew." 
Home products, bread cereals, beef, pork, poultry, dairy and 
vegetable-oil products, must be conserved. We must cut off 
half a pound per person from our six pounds per week per 
person of breadstuff, and our four pounds a week a person of 
meats and fats. Not every one could do this, for many with 
small incomes could not provide even all the food they ought to 
have. But many could save more by living more simply than 
last year, and hotels, restaurants, boarding houses and clubs 
could save much by adopting "a more strict program" for the 
nine million people who ate at such places. This was not 
rationing. It was an appeal to the people in their homes, and 
to the proprietors of public eating places, to work out for them- 



58 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

selves the maimer and means of saving. It was necessary that 
every family in our country study its food budget, "buy less, 
serve less, return nothing to the kitchen, and practice the gospel 
of the clean plate." 

Food stuffs were not the only articles conserved during the 
summer of 1918. Early in July the War Industries Board 
announced that, "It is necessary that all newspapers put the 
following economies into effect Monday, July 15, 1918. Dis- 
continue the acceptance of the return of unsold copies; discon- 
tinue the use of samples or free promotion copies ; discontinue 
the arbitrary forcing of copies on newsdealers ; discontinue all 
buying back of papers at either wholesale or retail prices from 
newsdealers or agents; discontinue the payment of salaries or 
commissions to agents, dealers, or newsboys to secure the 
equivalent of return privileges ; discontinue all free exchanges." 
Everywhere the newspapers complied. 

To conserve fuel for winter use the Euel Administration 
directed that on and after July 10, the nights of Monday, 
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of each week were to be 
lightless, and that on and after July 15, all elevator service was 
to be cut down. In buildings where there were five passenger 
elevators one must be cut out ; where there were ten, two must 
be disused. All must stop from half-past six in the evening 
until half past seven in the morning, and from three o'clock 
on Saturday until half -past seven Monday morning. The first 
stop up, and the last down, was to be the third floor ; when none 
ran above the third floor they were to be abandoned. None 
were to leave the first floor during the off-rush hours unless 
loaded to fifty per cent of their capacity. Passengers when 
entering must call the number of the floor to which they wished 
to be carried, for no return trip was to be made after once pass- 
ing a floor. By this means a saving of twenty per cent, in the 
use of power was expected. Trolley lines were required to cut 
down the number of car stops and thus save electricity and 
fuel, and that there might be plenty of coal the President, on 



WAR WORK AT HOME 59 

August %!, called on "all engaged in coal mining" to do their 
utmost to increase the supply. 

The existing scarcity of coal is creating a grave danger, in fact, 
the most serious whicli confronts us, and calls for prompt and vigor- 
ous action on the part of both operators and miners. Without an 
adequate supply, our war program will be retarded; the effectiveness 
of our fighting forces in France will be lessened; the lives of our 
soldiers will be unnecessarily endangered, and their hardships 
increased, and there will be much suffering in many homes through- 
out the country during the coming Winter. 

I am well aware that your ranks have been seriously depleted by 
the draft, by voluntary enlistment, and by the demands of other 
essential industries. This handicap can be overcome, however, and 
sufficient coal can be mined in spite of it, if every one connected 
with the industry, from the highest official to the youngest boy, will 
give his best work each day for the full number of work hours. 

The operators must be zealous as never before to bring about 
the highest efficiency of management, to establish the best possible 
working conditions, and to accord fair treatment to everybody, so 
that the opportunity to work at his best may be accorded to every 
workman. 

The miners should report for work every day, unless prevented by 
unavoidable causes, and should not only stay in the mines the full 
time, but also see to it that they get more coal than ever before. 
The other workers, in and about the mines, should work as regularly 
and faithfully, so that the work of the miner may not be retarded 
in any way. This will be especially necessary from this time for- 
ward, for your numbers may be further lessened by the draft, which 
will induct into the army your fair share of those not essential to 
industry. 

Those who are drafted, but who are essential, will be given deferred 
classification, and it is their patriotic duty to accept it. And it is 
the patriotic duty of their friends and neighbors to hold them in 
high regard for doing so. 

The only worker who deserves the condemnation of his community 
is the one who fails to give his best in this crisis; not the one who 
accepts deferred classification and works regularly and diligently 
to increase the coal output. 

A great task is to be performed. The operators and their staffs 
alone cannot do it, nor can the mine workeid alone do it: but both 



60 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

parties, working hand in hand, with a grim determination to rid 
the country of its greatest obstacle to winning the war, can do it. 

It is with full confidence that I call upon you to assume the 
burden of producing an ample supply of coal. You will, I am sure, 
accept this burden, and will successfully carry it through, and in 
so doing you will be performing a service just as worthy as service 
in the trenches, and will win the applause and gratitude of the 
whole nation. 

Unskilled labor, also, must be conserved. Shortage in cer- 
tain classes of such labor ; increasing sbortage of unskilled labor 
needed for war industries ; the competition of essential and non- 
essential industries for laborers ; the constant shifting of work- 
men lured from one city to another, had caused a labor turn- 
over which had become alarmingly great, and brought about a 
situation which was unbearable. A remedy must be found, 
and was sought in a plan prepared by the War Labor Policies 
Board and put in operation by a proclamation forbidding pri- 
vate recruiting of unskilled labor after August 1. The Pres- 
ident said: 

There has been much confusion as to essential products. There 
has been ignorance of conditions, men have gone hundreds of miles 
in search of a job and wages they might have found at their doors. 
Employers, holding Government contracts of the highest importance, 
have competed for workers with holders of similar contracts, and 
even with the Government itself, and have conducted expensive 
campaigns for recruiting labor in sections where the supply of 
labor was already exhausted. California draws its unskilled labor 
from as far east as Buffalo, and New York from as far west as the 
Mississippi. Thus labor has been induced to move fruitlessly from 
one place to another, congesting the railways and losing both time 
and money. 

Such a condition is unfair alike to employers and employee, but 
most of all to the nation itself, whose existence is threatened by any 
decrease in its productive power. It is obvious that this situation 
can be clarified and equalized by a central agency, the United States 
Employment Service of the Department of Labor, with the counsel 
of the War Labor Policies Board as the voice of all the individual 
agencies of the Government. Such a central agency must have 
sole direction of all recruiting of civilian workers in war work; and. 



WAR WORK AT HOME 61 

in taking over this great responsibility must, at the same time, have 
power to assure to essential industry an adequate supply of labor, 
even to the extent of withdrawing workers from non-essential pro- 
duction. It must also protect labor from insincere and thoughtless 
appeals made to it under the plea of patriotism, and assure it that 
when it is asked to volunteer in some priority industry the need ig 
real. 

Therefore, the President urged all employers engaged in war 
work "to refrain after August 1, 1918, from recruiting un- 
skilled labor in any manner except through this central 
agency" ; appealed to labor to respond as loyally as heretofore 
to any calls issued by this agency for voluntary enlistment in 
essential industry, and asked "them both alike to remember 
that no sacrifice will have been in vain if we are able to prove 
beyond all question that the highest and best form of efficiency 
is the spontaneous cooperation of a free people." 

How the plan, thus to be put in force on August 1, 1918, 
was to be carried out was explained by the Director General 
of the United States Employment Service. The work of sup- 
plying war industries with common labor would be centralized 
in the United States Employment Service, and all independent 
recruiting of common labor by manufacturers having a payroll 
of more than 100 men would be diverted to the United States 
Employment Service. In each community would be a local 
labor board, with jurisdiction over recruiting and distributing 
labor in its locality. No laborers were to be transported out of 
any community by the United States Employment Service 
without the approval of the State Director; nor any removed 
from one State to another without tbe approval of the United 
States Employment Service at Washington. Every effort 
would be made to discourage any movements from community 
to community, or state to state, by any other service. In 
Pittsburgh, there were advertisements calling for men to go 
to Detroit, and in the Detroit street car posters asking men 
to go to Pittsburgh. The same condition was apparent over 



62 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

all the United States, and in the consequent shifting of labor 
a great part of our war effort was dissipated. 

Nothing, it was determined, should be allowed to interfere 
in any way with the efforts of the Government to win the war. 
When, therefore, early in July, a threatened strike of the 
Western Union Telegraph Company operators bade fair to 
paralyze the business of the country. Congress rushed through a 
resolution giving the President power to take over all telephone, 
telegraph, cable and radio systems, and "to operate the same in 
such manner as may be needful or desirable for the duration 
of the war." 

A little later, when the workmen in an arms factory in 
Bridgeport, Connecticut, refused to abide by the decision of 
the National War Labor Board and struck, the President told 
them their act was disloyal. "If," said he, "such disregard of 
the solemn adjudication of a tribunal to which both parties 
submitted their claims is temporized with, agreements become 
mere scraps of paper. If errors creep into awards, the proper 
remedy is submission to the award with an application for 
rehearing to the tribunal. But to strike against the award is 
disloyalty and dishonor." They must, therefore, return to 
work or be barred, for a year, from employment in any war 
industry, and lose all claim to exemption from military service 
based on "alleged usefulness in war production." 

Continuing the policy of conservation, the Fuel Adminis- 
trator requested that on Sunday, September 1, and on every 
Sunday until further notice, all owners of automobiles east of 
the Mississippi River should not use them for pleasure riding. 
There were in that vast region at least four million automobiles, 
of which two hundred thousand were trucks. Should the three 
million eight hundred thousand pleasure cars cease to run on 
Sunday and save at least two gallons of gasoline each, seven and 
a half millions of gallons would be conserved. Each owner 
must decide for himself, or herself, whether or not the request 
would be obeyed. During seven consecutive Sundays this vol- 
untary restriction was fully observed. Taxicab companies 



WAR WORK AT HOME 69 

would be wise for the German Government to consider that if it acts 
upon that principle it will inevitably be understood to invite similar 
reciprocal action on the part of the United States with respect to 
the great numbers of German subjects in this country. It is assumed 
that the German Government, before acting, will give due reflection 
and due weight to this consideration. 

I beg that you will be good enough to bring the foregoing state- 
ment to the attention of the German Government. 



At the time of our entrance into the war only the property 
of interned aliens in this country, or the property in this 
country of persons resident within the enemy's lines, was 
taken over by the Alien Property Custodian. In May the 
President by proclamation added five new classes. In the 
first were placed the wives of officers, officials, agents of the 
German and Austro-Hungarian Governments; the wives of 
persons within the territory of Germany and Austria- 
Hungary and the military areas occupied by their forces, 
and the wives of persons resident without the limits of the 
United States, and doing business in enemy countries. In 
this class were scores of American women of wealth who mar- 
ried titled Germans and Austrians. In the second class were 
placed persons who were prisoners of war, or who had been- 
or might be interned by any ally of the United States; in 
the third, persons who, since our entrance into the war, had 
spread, or might spread, propaganda injurious to the cause 
of the United States or its allies, or had aided or might aid 
in plots or intrigues against our country or its allies. In the 
fourth were all those who at any time since August 4, 1914, 
had resided on enemy soil. The fifth included a great num- 
ber, for in it were placed all persons then, or who thereafter 
might be, on the enemy trading list. 

That more money would be needed to meet the growing 
cost of war was well known to everybody. ^Nevertheless Con- 
gress was much snrprised when on May 27, 1918, the Presi- 
dent appeared before the Senate and House and stated the 
country's needs. 



70 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

It was, lie said, witli unaffected reluctance that he appeared 
hefore them to ask that the session he prolonged "to provide 
more adequate resources for the Treasury." The President 
fully appreciated "how arduous the session had been." Sum- 
mer was coming, when lassitude and fatigue made lahor twice 
arduous. The elections were at hand, when the members 
should render accounts of their trusteeship to the people. 
But would they dare go to the elections with a duty unper- 
formed, and a duty to be done was that of providing more 
revenue. To raise too large a porportion by loans would be 
unsound policy. Additional taxation must be resorted to for 
the four billions already provided for by taxation would not 
be enough, and these taxes should be levied on war profits, 
incomes and luxuries. "But the war profits and incomes upon 
which the increased taxes will be levied will be the profits 
and incomes of the calendar year 1918. It would be mani- 
festly unfair to wait until the early months of 1919 to say 
what they are to be. It might be difficult, I should imagine, 
to run the mill with water that had already gone over the 
wheel. Moreover, taxes of that sort will not be paid until 
the June of next year and the Treasury must anticipate them. 
It must use the money they produce before it is due. It must 
sell short-time certificates of indebtedness. In the autumn 
a much larger sale of long-time bonds must be effected than 
has yet been attempted. What are the bankers to think of 
the certificates if they do not certainly know where the money 
is to come from which is to take them up ? And how are the 
investors to approach the purchase of bonds with any sort 
of confidence or knowledge of their own affairs if they do 
not know what taxes they are to pay, and what economies 
and adjustments of their business they must effect? I can- 
not assure the country of a successful administration of the 
Treasury in 1918 if the question of further taxation is to be 
left undecided until 1919. 

"The consideration that dominates every other now, and 
makes every other seem trivial and negligible is the winning 



WAR WORK AT HOME 711 

of the war. We are not only in the midst of the war, we are 
at the very peak and crisis of it. Hundreds of thousands 
of our men, carrying our hearts with them and our fortunes, 
are in the field and ships are crowding faster and faster to the 
ports of France and England with regiment after regiment, 
thousand after thousand, to join them until the enemy shall 
be beaten and brought to a reckoning with mankind. There 
can be no pause or intermission. The great enterprise must, 
on the contrary, be pushed with greater and greater energy. 
The volume of our might must steadily and rapidly be aug- 
mented until there can be no question of resisting it. If 
that is to be accomplished, gentlemen, money must sustain 
it to the utmost." 

How much would be needed to meet the cost of war was 
not known until June 6, when the Secretary of the Treasury 
announced to Congress that twenty-four billion dollars was 
his estimated expenditure for the fiscal year beginning July 
1, 1918. At least one-third of this sum, he thought, should 
be raised by taxation, and three suggestions were made as to 
how it should be raised. There should be "a, real war-profits 
tax" levied on all war profits "superimposed upon the existing 
excess profits tax." There should be "a substantial increase in- 
the amount of the normal tax upon so-called unearned incomes," 
and heavy taxation should "be imposed upon all luxuries." 

The Government was not alone in appealing to the people 
for money. The Red Cross must have another hundred mil- 
lion dollars, and towards the close of May the drive to get 
it began. In the Philadelphia District where many organi- 
zations were constantly asking for money to help win the 
war, a plan was adopted to form a War Chest, appeal to 
the people of Philadelphia, Bucks, Delaware, Chester and 
Montgomery Counties to contribute twenty million dollars, 
divide this sum among the organizations according to their 
needs, and make no further call for money for a year. The 
drive began on May 20, and on that day men and women 
earning two thousand dollars a year were asked to sign a 



72 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

pledge to contribute one day's pay each month during a year, 
and "31 to 1" became the slogan of the campaign. "One 
day's pay each month for the boys who are fighting your 
fight," it was said. "They give thirty-one days a month for 
your liberty; you must give one for their comfort." "We 
have made a lot of money out of the war in Philadelphia, 
more than any other city. Yet compared with other cities 
we have given less to war relief than any other city of our 
size. We have given $1.42 per head; other cities have given 
more than five dollars per head, cities that have in some cases 
had no war contracts in their factories. Our plants are 
bulging with these contracts. Can't we afford to be liberal? 
And we will be liberal if we give according to this schedule.^ 
While all giving must be optional, contributors are reminded 
that unless this table is generally followed it will be impossi- 
ble for the War Chest to meet the growing needs of the war 
relief agencies at the front with the increasing number of 
troops. Remember that the War Chest must care for the 
French and Italian soldiers as well as our own boys. These 
armies have no Y. M. C. A. We must give them ours. So 
follow this table if you possibly can, even if you have to make 
a sacrifice. That is what our boys are doing for us." 

Every dollar of the War Chest Fund, the War Welfare 
Council stated, would be devoted to war work and to noth- 
ing else. "The United States Government has selected cer- 
tain national agencies as best fitted to carry on war relief 
work. Each of these national agencies has created a sepa- 
rate board to carry on this war work. The American Red 
Cross has its National War Council; the Y. M. C. A. its Na- 
tional War Relief Council; the K. of C. its Training Camp 

'Men and women with incomes of $2,000 and $3,000 were asked to con- 
tribute four per cent, in twelve monthly installments; those with incomes 
of $3,100, $4,000, $5,000, five per cent.; with $5,100, $6,000, $7,000, $8,000. 
$9,000, $10,000, six per cent.; with $11,000, $12,000, $13,000, $14,000, 
$15,000, seven per cent. Incomes from $15,000 to $25,000 should con- 
tribute seven per cent.; from $26,000 to $40,000, eight per cent.; from 
$41,000 to $50,000, nine per cent.; from $51,000 to $99,000, ten per cent.; 
from $100,000 up, twelve per cent. 



WAR WORK AT HOME 78 

Commission; the Y. W. C. A. its I^ational War Eelief 
Council, and the Y. M. H. A. its War Relief Board. 

"The ISTational War Board, by whatever name it may be 
known, of each organization then decides what amount is 
necessary to do the work assigned to it by the government 
and asks the country as a whole for that sum. 

"Each state and large city is given proper quota basewi 
upon its population, banking resources, etc. The only func- 
tion of the War Chest Board, therefore, is to determine that 
the quota assigned to the five counties is in just proportion 
to the total amount to be raised. 

"ISTo part of the fund goes to any of the general work of 
these organizations, but it is applied wholly to war work 
approved by the United States Government. There are, of 
course, a number of necessary local relief bodies, but they will 
require much smaller sums. In the case of such of these 
as desire to participate in the fund, the amount to be given 
to each will be appropriated by the War Chest Board after 
full investigation." 

Every means possible to stimulate subscriptions were used. 
Posters, placards, calls through the newspapers, speeches, 
mass meetings, street parades, a house to house canvass, ap-,, 
peals by women workers at the street corners, were every- 
day features of the campaign. In scores of workshops and 
factories, stores and corporations, banks, trust companies, busi- 
ness houses, every employee signed the 31 to 1 pledge and 
bound himself to give one day's pay each month to the War 
Chest, and wore the button inscribed "I helped." 

On May 28, with two days of the campaign left, the War 
Chest Fund was four million dollars short. It was then pointed 
out that three cities had tried the War Chest plan with re- 
markable results. In Columbus, Ohio, thirteen dollars was 
subscribed for each man, woman and child in the city; in 
Rome, New York, fifteen dollars a person; in Syracuse, 
'New York, nine dollars a person. What, it was asked, will 
Philadelphia and the five counties do? "So far our best 



74 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

record (to the Red Cross) is this lamentable showing: less 
than a dollar and a half a person." The quota was obtained and 
from the people the country over $169,575,598 were collected by 
March 1, 1919, as the result of this great drive. Forty-three 
million people it was estimated had subscribed. Both drives 
brought to the treasury of the Eed Cross $283,500,000. 

Scarcely was this drive over than, in June, another was 
begun for the sale of War Savings Stamps. There were two 
kinds of such stamps, the Thrift Stamps, and the War Sav- 
ings Certificate Stamp. The Thrift Stamp costing twenty- 
five cents earned no interest. When sixteen were affixed to 
a Thrift Card it might be surrendered, on payment of from 
sixteen to twenty-three cents, for a War Savings Certificate 
Stamp which earned four per cent, compound interest until 
its maturity, January 1, 1923. When the sale of these 
stamps began on January 1, 1918, the War Savings Stamp 
cost four dollars and twelve cents, and was to increase in 
value one cent a month, until December, 1922, when it would 
cost four dollars and seventy-one cents and be redeemable 
January 1, 1923, at five dollars. iNTobody could invest more 
than one thousand dollars in such stamps. They were sold 
at all post offices the country over, at banks, at street booths, 
by boy scouts and solicitors, and to stimulate the sale still 
more a week was set apart, in June, for a great drive. The 
twenty-eighth of the month was designated Thrift Day and 
May 29 the President appealed to the people to save and 
invest. 

This war [he said] is one of nations, not of armies, and all of 
our hundred million people must be economically and industrially- 
adjusted to war conditions if this nation is to play its full part in 
the conflict. The problem before us is not primarily a financial 
problem, but rather a problem of increased production of war essen- 
tials and the saving of the materials and the labor necessary for the 
support and equipment of our army and navy. Thoughtless ex- 
penditure of money for non-essentials uses up the labor of men, the 
products of the farm, mines and factories and overburdens trans- 



WAR WORK AT HOME 5^5 

portation, all of which must be used to the utmost and at their 
best for war purposes. 

The great results which we seek can be obtained only by the 
participation of every member of the nation, young and old, in a 
national concerted thrift movement. I therefore urge that our people 
everywhere pledge themselves, as suggested by the Secretary of the 
Treasury, to the practice of thrift; to serve the Government to 
their utmost in increasing production in all fields necessary to the 
winning of the war; to conserve food and fuel and useful materials 
of every kind; to devote their labor only to the most necessary tasks, 
and to buy only those things which are essential to individual health 
and efficiency, and that the people, as evidence of their loyalty, 
invest all that they can save in Liberty Bonds and war savings 
stamps. 

The securities issued by the Treasury Department are so many 
of them within the reach of every one that the door of opportunity 
in this matter is wide open to all of us. To practice thrift in peace 
times is a virtue and brings great benefit to the individual at all 
times; with the desperate need of the civilized world to-day for 
materials and labor with which to end the war, the practice of 
individual thrift is a patriotic duty and a necessity. 

I appeal to all who now own either Liberty Bonds or war savings 
stamps to continue to practice economy and thrift and to appeal to 
all who do not own Government securities to do likewise and purchase 
them to the extent of their means. The man who buys Government 
securities transfers the purchasing power of his money to the "United 
States Government until after this war, and to that same degree 
does not buy in competition with the Government. 

I earnestly appeal to every man, woman and child to pledge them- 
selves on or before the 28th of June to save constantly and to buy 
as regularly as possible the securities of the Government; and to do 
this as far as possible through membership in war savings societies. 
The 28th of June ends this special period of enlistment in the great 
volunteer army of production and saving here at home. May there 
be none unenlisted on that day. 



To each city and town was assigned a quota, and its people 
urged to reach the goal. Each citizen was urged to sign a 
pledge to buy as many as he could each month during the 
remainder of the year. "Limit Clubs" were formed, and each 
member bound to buy the two hundred War Savings Stamps 



76 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

beyond which, he could not go. In 'New York City a day, 
"Soldiers in Erance Bay/' was set apart during the drive, 
and an effort made to match every American soldier in 
France with a stamp buyer in the city. Hundreds of towns 
went over their quotas, and the sale of stamps since January 
1, 1918, was thus raised to over five hundred million dollars. 
By the middle of August the sales amounted to $697,578,000, 
or over one^quarter of the two billion dollars authorized. At 
the end of the year they reached $966,269,370. 

While the drive for the sale of War Savings Stamps was 
still going on, the Secretary of the Treasury announced that 
the campaign for the Fourth Liberty Loan would begin on 
Saturday, September 28th, and continue during three weeks, 
but made no statement concerning the rate of interest, the life 
of the bonds, or the amount to be offered. Not until the twenty- 
third of the month was it known that the rate of interest 
would be four and a quarter per cent., that the bonds would 
run for twenty years, and that the minimum amount asked 
for was six billion dollars. 

Preparations for the campaign were then well under way. 
Every form of appeal known to man was to be employed, ap- 
peals to the eye, to the ear, to patriotism, to humanity, to 
the feelings excited by the brutality of the Huns, to the sense 
of imperative duty to provide everything needed by our army 
and navy. One poster bore the imprint of a bloody hand 
and the words, "The Hun, His Mark. Blot it out with Liberty 
Bonds." Another was a pair of blood-stained boots and the 
words, "Keep these off the United States." Automobiles, 
motor trucks, trolley cars, carried long strips of cotton bear- 
ing such inscriptions as, "What do you think of the U-boats ?" ; 
"Ask his Mother how many Bonds you should buy"; "My 
boy, I backed you" ; "Mj boy and your boy" ; "Bonds buy 
Bullets"; "One $50 Bond will buy 12 shirts"; "One $50 
Bond will buy 18 bayonets"; "One $50 Bond will buy 110 
grenades." 

New York City opened her campaign on the evening of 



WAR WORK AT HOME 77 

September 27th, with the noise of the ten great sirens of the 
Police Department, sirens provided when the U-boats were off 
our coast, to warn the citizens should an air raid happen. 
As their shriek rose shriller and shriller the Fire Depart- 
ment sirens, steamboat and factory whistles, motor horns and 
church bells made answer, thousands of red flares blazed, thou- 
sands of young men began to distribute copies of the Stars 
and Stripes, the soldiers' newspaper in France, and thou- 
sands of speakers scattered over the country began their 
appeals in behalf of the loan. On the morning of Saturday, 
September 28th, there was a parade down Fifth Avenue, 
twenty-four blocks of which were named the Avenue of the 
Allies. At each end, and suspended midway of each block, 
was a large banner bearing the name of the Ally to which it 
was dedicated. From the windows of the second and fourth 
stories of buildings along the block hung flags of that Ally, 
and from the third stories the Liberty Loan banner. In the 
window of each shop was some suitable display, and at Madi- 
son Square was the great Altar of Liberty, where day after 
day appropriate ceremonies were held by the people of some 
one of our Allies. 

Kever before, in a Liberty Loan campaign, had so many 
speakers been employed. A hundred and ten thousand men 
and women, some four minute men, some volunteers, some 
under the supervision of the Central Loan Organization, spoke 
in theaters, churches, in schools, before audiences at the 
movies, at street corners, and from automobiles in the rural 
districts. In nearly every county and township the country 
over was a staff of speakers who traveled from town to town, 
from village to village, appealing to the people to buy bonds 
and more bonds. Twenty-four trains loaded with war tro- 
phies, rifles, shells, helmets, mine throwers, captured by 
Pershing's men, guns, trench mortars, went about the country, 
each with speakers and American soldiers who had been 
wounded or gassed on the fighting front in France. Even 
France was drawn upon, and from her came twelve officers and 



78 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

one hundred and ten men. Sixty were members of tlie far- 
famed Foreign Legion. The rest were interpreters and men 
who had been wounded. They, too, traveled the country from 
the Atlantic Coast to Oklahoma, from N'ew Orleans to the 
Great Lakes. The flag carried by the men of the Foreign 
Legion was the first in the French Army to receive the decora- 
tion of the Military Medal, had repeatedly been decorated 
with the palms of the War Cross, and had received the Cross 
of the L^ion of Honor. So many had been the deeds of valor 
done by the Legion that its members wore on the left shoulder 
the cord known as the fourragere, having the three colors of 
the French national emblem. 

On the evening of September 2Yth, at N'ew York City, the 
President opened the campaign with a speech. He had little 
to say concerning the loan, but much concerning the terms 
and conditions of peace, for he spoke to a far gi-eater audi- 
ence than that gathered to hear him in the Opera House, 
to his countrymen everywhere. 

"I am not here," he said, "to promote the loan. That will 
be done, ably and enthusiastically done, by the hundreds of 
thousands of loyal men and women who have undertaken to 
present it to you and our fellow citizens throughout the coun- 
try, and I have not the least doubt of their complete success, 
for I know their spirit and the spirit of the country." He had 
come rather to present some thoughts which might give a more 
vivid sense of the gi-eat issues involved, that his hearers might 
appreciate the grave significance of the duty of supporting the 
Government by their men and their means "to the utmost 
point of sacrifice and self-denial. ISTo man or woman," he 
said, "who has really taken in what this war means can hesi- 
tate to give to the very limit of what they have, and it is my 
mission here to-night to try to make it clear once more what 
the war really means. You will need no other stimulant or 
reminder of your duty." With these remarks the President 
turned to that part of his speech which related to peace and 
the issues involved. 



WAR WORK AT HOME 79 

Despite the great effort made, subscriptions to the loan 
lagged. At the end of the first week hut $1,323,716,050 
had been reported to the Treasury Department. With one- 
third of the time gone and hut twenty-seven per cent, of the 
loan taken, the prospect was discouraging. Blame for the 
apparent indifference was laid on the Austro-German peace 
offensive. An epidemic of influenza and pneumonia which 
was sweeping over the country, and was especially acute in 
Boston and Philadelphia, where hundreds of citizens died 
each day, and where parades, public gatherings, meetings and 
demonstrations in behalf of the loan were forbidden by the 
Public Health authorities, was believed to be another cause 
of failure to respond. When half the time had expired and 
but $1,791,463,200 subscribed, new and urgent appeals were 
made in the advertising columns of the newspapers, and by 
men of national distinction; loan workers redoubled their 
efforts, and at the close of the business day of October 10 the 
Treasury Department reported $2,024,037,050 subscribed. 
President Wilson now appealed to the N'ation. 

Becent events have enhanced, not lessened, the importance of this 
loan, and I hope that my fellow-countrsrmen will let me say this 
to them very frankly. The best thing that could happen would be 
that the loan should not only be fully subscribed, but very greatly 
oversubscribed. We are in the midst of the greatest exercise of the 
power of this country that has ever been witnessed or forecast, and 
a single day of relaxation in that effort would be of tragical damage 
alike to ourselves and to the rest of the world. Nothing has happened 
which makes it safe or possible to do anything but push our effort 
to the utmost. The time is critical, and the response must be 
complete. 

William Jennings Bryan urged the American people to 
stand back of the President and oversubscribe. "There are 
but two sides to a war, our country's side and the side of the 
enemy," he said. "The patriot is wholly on the side of his 
country, heart, voice, pocketbook, and life, if necessary. 

"War's heaviest burden falls upon those who, in the army 



80 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

and navy, offer their all, not some of their income, hut life 
itself. No one else is in their class. The hurden imposed 
hy war taxes comes next, because the money collected is not 
returned, and yet no one should complain of war taxes while 
one mother's son is required to offer himself on his country's 
altar. 

"Those who lend money to this Government have the easiest 
task of all. This money they advance is returned with interest. 

"The money needed should not only he furnished, hut fur- 
nished promptly. The moral force of a loan reaches its maxi- 
mum when it is subscribed immediately. The Fourth Loan 
comes at a time when our soldiers are advancing victoriously 
and when the retreat of the enemy assumes more and more 
the nature of a rout. Germany is so hard pressed that she 
proposes peace. 

"A failure of the people to respond to the call for money 
now would be disastrous. It would encourage the enemy more 
than a successful battle. The supreme moment has come, no 
one can fail to see the importance of prompt action. Over- 
subscription at once will be an announcement to Germany 
that the American people stand back of the President, the 
Government, and the army, and are ready to furnish the 
money necessary to win the war." 

Premier Clemenceau was pressed into service and sent a 
message made public by the Liberty Loan Publicity Bureau at 
Washington. 

The people of the United States are preparing to win a new 
victory. I send them the cordial greetings of France. You know 
what has to be accomplished. Fighting does not bring victory. 
Gold is needed. France, invaded and mutilated, has done its best. 
The French people during the war have drawn on their own re- 
sources to the amount of twenty-four billion dollars. You have 
subscribed over ten billion dollars to the loans. You have advanced 
almost seven billion dollars to the Allies. To-day a new appeal is 
made to you. I feel certain of your response. You will bring the 
billions which your Government is asking for the service of your flag 
so recently glorified on the plains of Lorraine. This is the hour of 



WAR WORK AT HOME 81 

supreme effort for the crushing of military despotism. Now, on all 
fronts, behold the dawn of victory. Your soldiers are ready for the 
attack. Be ready for the loanl 

In Philadelphia, where five thousand persons had died 
of influenza and pneumonia during the week, where parades 
and public gatherings of every sort were forbidden, where 
subscriptions, in consequence, had lagged, three days were set 
apart in hopes of rousing the people. On Thursday, October 
10, Flag Day, every patriotic citizen was expected to see to it 
that the Stars and Stripes were displayed outside or in the 
windows of his house, and add to it the four-striped Liberty 
Loan flag, that showed he was a subscriber. Friday, Octo- 
ber 11, was Preparation Day, when direct appeals were made 
to the slackers to prepare to subscribe on Saturday, which 
was Emblem and Conscience Day. Prom five o'clock to half 
past six in the afternoon four minute men appealed to the 
crowds in the Eeading Terminal, and in the Pennsylvania 
Eailroad Stations, and in all subway stations from 15th Street 
to the Delaware Kiver. Between four and seven o'clock con- 
ductors on the Philadelphia Rapid Transit cars read to the 
passengers these words : "President Wilson expects every Phila- 
delphia home to display the four-striped Liberty Loan honor 
emblem to-morrow. Get busy and buy bonds." At seven 
o'clock every noise-making device in the city, automobile horns, 
whistles of factories and steamboats, church bells, broke forth, 
as a clarion cry to slackers. Fifteen minutes later from every 
police district there went forth twenty squads of men, headed 
by a town cryer in Continental uniform, a Boy Scout carry- 
ing a flag, and men and women speakers, to march through 
the chief streets and deliver messages to the people in the 
language of the district. In Little Italy, the cryer was an 
Italian; in Chinatown, a Chinese, and so for each of the 
twenty or more nationalities in the city. On Conscience and 
Emblem Day, October 12th, Liberty Day throughout the land 
as proclaimed by the President, it was left to every one's 
conscience to subscribe tO' the limit. Sunday was designated 



82 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

"Pershing Day" by the Loan Committee, a day when the 
people shut from their churches by the dreadful diseases which 
ravaged the city, should dedicate it to the individual soldier 
or sailor in whom each was personally interested. Said the 
Committee: "The slogan of the day is, 'For Your Boy and 
Mine.' Every one has been doing his share for the 'boys over 
there,' but Sunday vsdll be the first chance to do your share 
in a general public move for 'THE BOY over there.' 

The day should be opened with prayers for YOUR BOY. The 
balance of the day should also be devoted to YOUR BOY. You are 
asked to give only this short time in return for his entire time given 
for you. 

You are called on to support him in every way. The one way 
in which you can do it best is to join with the rest of the city 
in sending him the best news that he could want, that this city 
is with him to the limit, and that it leads the country in this 
respect. 

Imagine the happiness of your boy as he gets the following news 
in the trenches: Thiladelphia leads the country in oversubscribing 
the fourth Liberty Loan, and in the number of persons subscribing. 
I helped to do this for you.' 

And by devoting Pershing Sunday to your boy you can make this 
message possible. 

After your prayers in the morning, whether they be at church 
or at home, you are asked to go to the nearest drug store and sub- 
scribe every cent you can to the Liberty Loan. If you have already 
subscribed, take another bond, 'for him,' if you can arrange to do 
so in any way. 

Then wear your button and place the emblem in your window. Be 
sure that your house is decorated outside in some manner. 

Pollowing this, make a careful canvass of your friends and 
neighbors, and see that their houses are decorated, get them each 
to take another bond, 'for him,' and see that they wear their button, 
and have their honor emblem displayed. 

This is for your boy. He is calling. Will you refuse to sup- 
port him to the limit by giving the few hours required by the program 
for Pershing Sunday? 

Again the Loan Committee were sorely disappointed. 
Again the slacker was dead to appeals, and on Saturday, in 



WAR WORK AT HOME 83 

the Philadelphia Federal Eeserve District, hut $16,238,600 
were added, and the total suhscription for two weeks raised 
to $166,948,200, or just one-third of its quota of five hundred 
million dollars. In ITew York City, on Saturday, President 
Wilson marched at the head of a great parade, and reviewed 
it from the Altar of Liberty, and Secretary McAdoo addressed 
a mass meeting at Chicago. 

Subscriptions from all of the Twelve Federal Reserve Dis- 
tricts, which covered the entire country, amounted, when the 
third and final week opened, to $2,798,419,950. 

In hopes of overcoming so much of the apathy as was due 
to the belief that peace was near, the President now made a 
second appeal to the people. 

The reply of the German Government to my note of inquiry dated 
Oct. 8 gives occasion for me to say to my fellow countrymen that 
neither that reply, nor any other recent events have, in any way 
diminished the vital importance of the Liberty Loan. Relaxation 
now, hesitation now, would mean defeat when victory seems to be 
in sight; would mean years of war instead of peace upon our own 
terms. 

I earnestly request every patriotic American to leave to the Gov- 
ernments of the United States, and of the Allies, the momentous^ 
discussions initiated by Germany, and to remember that, for each 
man, his duty is to strengthen the hands of these Governments, and 
to do it in the most important way now immediately presented, by 
subscribing to the utmost of his ability for bonds of the Fourth 
Liberty Loan. That loan must be successful. I am sure that the 
American people will not fail to see their duty and make it successful. 

Still the loan lagged. When Friday, October 18, came 
but $3,607,597,350 had been subscribed. And now the long 
desired rally began. Subscriptions large and small poured 
in, and despite the ravages of influenza and pneumonia, 
despite peace talk started by the German note, and the vic- 
tories of the Allies in Belgium and France, when the last 
subscription was taken the loan had gone "over the top," and 
bonds to the amount of $6,989,200,000 had been purchased. 



84 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

ISTever before in the history of the world had such a sum of 
money heen raised, in any nation, in three weeks. 

'No sooner was the Liberty Loan campaign over than the 
Young Men's Christian Association, the National Catholic 
War Council, Knights of Columbus, the Jewish Welfare 
Board, the Salvation Army, the American Library Associa- 
tion, the War Camp Community Service and the Young 
Women's Christian Association joined in a United War Work 
Campaign to raise $170,500,000. The time was far from 
opportune, for on the day it opened, November 11, the armi- 
stice was declared and fighting ceased, and the celebrations 
which followed caused two days' loss of work. The influenza 
was still raging and public meetings were forbidden. Re- 
ports of immediate demobilization led many to believe that 
the army would be mustered out in a few weeks. But it 
made no difference, and during the week the campaign went 
on, every possible sort of appeal was made to the people, and 
when the week ended more than two hundred millions of 
dollars had been subscribed.^ 

Even this did not end the caUs for money. In the spring 
of 1919 the people were again summoned to subscribe to a 
fifth, the Victory Loan, of four and a half billion dollars of 
short-term Gold Notes bearing four and three-quarters per 
cent, interest per annum. The time was more inauspicious 
than ever. Fighting had ceased, the war had been won; the 
armistice was in force ; German territory was occupied by the 
annies of the Allies; the Germans had received the terms of 
peace, and our boys were coming home. Many of the old 
incentives to subscribe were gone. Patriotism no longer 
burned so brightly as before, and the slacker was more in 
evidence. Nevertheless, when the Treasury Department an- 
nounced the results, late in May, notes to the amount of 
$5,249,908,300 had been purchased, an over-subscription of 
nearly seven hundred and fifty million dollars. 

" $203,179,038. 



CHAPTER III 

FIGHTING IN FRANCE 

Before our troops came pouring into France the sector in 
which they should fight had already been determined by physi- 
cal conditions which must be met. To land an army of a mil- 
lion men in the ports of northern France was quite impossible, 
for they were crowded with ships bringing supplies for the 
British armies in Picardy and Flanders. Even if room could 
have been found for transports and supply ships, the railroads 
leading thence to the fighting front were taxed far beyond 
their capacity to supply the British troops. There was nothing 
to do, therefore, but use the ports on the Bay of Biscay coast 
and to Bordeaux, La Pallice, St. ISTazaire and Brest, were sent 
our troops, munitions and supplies.-^ Use of the railways 
running northeast from these ports required the great depot 
for supplies to be located somewhere near Tours, Bourges,- 
or Chateauroux, and meant that the American sector, when 
taken over, would be somewhere in the southern part of the 
battle front. Thus it came about that the first fighting done 
by our men in 1917 was east of the city of Rheims. After 
arrival in France one month was allowed for training in small 
units; another in the trenches in some quiet sector, and a 
third for training in divisions. Four divisions had reached 
the trench stage when on March 21, 1918, the great German 
drive began in Picardy, and General Pershing, March 28, 

* Our troops sailed from Quebec, Montreal, St. Johns, Halifax, Portland, 
Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Norfolk. More than a 
million and twenty-five thousand landed in Great Britain. The ports 
used were Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Falmouth, Plymouth, 
Southampton and London. The French ports were Le Havre, Brest, St. 
Nazaire, La Pallice, Bordeaux, and Marseilles. 

85 



86 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

placed at the disposal of Marshal Focli all our troops to use 
as be thought fit. 

In this attempt to drive a wedge between the British and 
French armies, isolate the one, and force the other to its bases, 
the battle front was carried eastward to Albert and Montdidier, 
and southward below Lassiguy, iNoyon and La Fere. 

Held on this line, the Germans April 8 opened a second 
drive, this time in Flanders, between Ajmentieres and La 
Bassee, for the Channel ports. Their attack was along a twelve- 
mile front from Givenchy to Fleurbaix. IsTear ITeuve Cha- 
pelle, where the Portuguese held the line, the Germans broke 
through and drove the British from the low ground along the 
valley of the Lys, from La Bassee to near Ypres. 

The fall of iNeuve Chapelle and Mount Kemmel threat- 
ened the line of retreat from Ypres, and forced the British 
to abandon all the gains tbey had made east of Ypres during 
the autumn of 1.917, and before the month of April closed the 
battle line was carried westward beyond Locre, Bailleul, and 
Merville to La Bassee. This was the most anxious moment 
of the whole war and drew from General Haig his memorable 
appeal to the army to hold the line to the last man. "With our 
backs to the walls, and believing in the justice of our cause, 
each one of us must fight on to the end. The safety of our 
homes and the freedom of mankind depend alike on the con- 
duct of each one of us at this critical moment." But again 
the enemy was held and until May 16 stood on the defensive, 
while the Allies by local offensives recovered some lost ground 
and consolidated their lines. 

At dawn on the morning of May 27th the Germans began 
a third offensive against the Allied armies at two points on the 
long front. One, a minor attack, was made between Locre 
and Voormezeele near Ypres, and one of great violence along 
the front from Soissons to Rheims. In the bend of the front 
stretching across the Aisne Biver between Craonnelle and 
Bermericourt, a distance of fifteen miles, were the British. 
The right of their line held firm and kept in close touch with 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 87 

the French ; but the left gave way before the pressure of over- 
whelming numbers, the French were driven from the Chemin- 
des-Dames, and the enemy crossed the Aisne along an eighteen- 
mile front between Vailly and Berry-au-Bac, crossed the Vesle 
east of Bazoche and west of Fismes on the 28th, an advance 
of twelve miles from their old line of May 26 ; entered 
Soissons, pushed on towards Rheims, took the forts northwest 
of that city, and captured large depots of munitions, rail- 
way trains, hospitals and an aerodrome with machines ready 
to fly. The night of May 31 found the Germans on the Marne 
along a ten-mile front from Dormans to a point near Chateau- 
Thierry, with over 45,000 prisoners, more than 400 guns and 
thousands of machine guns, in their hands. In five days they 
had advanced twenty-four miles. 

In June a fourth drive was begun, this time on the Marne 
salient, and the battle line was driven westward between 
Chateau-Thierry and Soissons, and southward between Soissons 
and a point south of I^oyon. The fighting then extended along 
a seventy-four-mile front divided into three sectors, that from 
ISToyon to Soissons eighteen miles; that from Soissons to 
Chateau-Thierry twenty-eight miles; and that from Chateau- 
Thierry to Rheims twenty-eight miles. 

In this desperate fighting the First Division of the Ameri- 
can Expeditionary Force bore an honorable part. The first to 
reach France, in June, 1917, it received its training in modern 
warfare under French officers in scattered camps, and in the 
autumn began its trench apprenticeship not far from !Nancy, 
and there fired its first shell against the Germans, lost its first 
prisoners to the Germans, took its first prisoners from the 
Germans, and lost the three men who were buried with espe- 
cial honors as the first Ajnerican soldiers to be killed on the 
soil of France. In January, 1918, the Division took over a 
sector northwest of Toul near St. Mihiel, and was still there 
when, March 28, General Pershing tendered the entire Ex- 
peditionary Force to General Foch. A week later the Division 
began a most difiicult journey, over roads in dreadful condi- 



88 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

tion, to Picardy, and until July occupied a place on the Can- 
tigny front a few miles northwest of Montdidier, at the apex 
of the great German salient. Its duty was to hold the line, 
for, if the enemy broke through, Amiens and its railway 
system would pass into German hands, and the British army 
could no longer be supplied from its Channel port. Hold the 
line it did against repeated attacks, and despite heavy casual- 
ties in killed, wounded, gassed and missing. Standing on 
high ground, strongly fortified and dominating the American 
front was the village of Cantigny. That it should be captured 
was necessary for many reasons, and early on the morning of 
May 28, 1918, the First Division set out to make the capture. 

The operation began [wrote a correspondent of the London Times'] 
with neutralization fire on the enemies' batteries from our heavies. 
This lasted one hour and was followed by the combined heavies and 
light guns for another hour and a half of preparation, diversion and 
destructive fire. Then, at 6:45 the Americans upon a front of one 
and one-half miles hopped from their trenches and, under the pro- 
tection of a well directed rolling barrage from the light guns, with 
the heavies concentrated upon the distant areas, they advanced in 
two sturdy waves. They crossed the intervening zone to their objec- 
tive, a depth of nearly a mile, in exactly 40 minutes, preceded by 
12 tanks. There were sharp individual fights in the town of Can- 
tigny. Two hundred and fifty German dead were counted. 

The action was finely carried out; but what, in that hour 
of German triumph, was far more important than the capture 
of Cantigny, was the heartening effect of the fight on the 
Allies. It showed them the fighting qualities of the American 
soldier, and proved that under the worst of battle conditions 
he was more than a match for the enemy. 

Meanwhile the Germans were drawing nearer and nearer 
the Marne and Paris. Each hour the crisis grew more seri- 
ous, and again every available American soldier was placed 
at the disposal of Marshal Foch. The Second American Divi- 
sion was there in rest billets at Chaumont-en-Vexin, northwest 
of Paris, and had just finished the services held on Memorial 
Day, May 30th, when orders came from French Headquarters 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 89 

to entrain at once, move to the front to meet the Germans 
advancing on both sides of the Paris-Metz highway near 
Chateau-Thierry. May 31 vs^as spent on the journey, and 
June 1 found most of the men beyond Montreuil-aux-Lions, 
ten kilometers west of Chateau-Thierry. The line finally taken 
over ran from Bonneil, near the Marne, to Le Thiolet on the 
Paris-Metz highway, whence the 6th Marines extended it to 
Lucy-le-Bocage, and the 23d Regiment to Bois-de-Veuilly. On 
the right of the line the French 164th Division held the south 
part of Chateau-Thierry on the left bank of the Marne. Oppo- 
site the line was a ridge of hills and beyond them the valley 
of a little stream along which were the villages of Bouresches, 
Belleau, Torcy, Bussiares. The steep hills along the stream 
were held by the Germans. 

At the same time that the Second Division received orders 
to move to the front, the Third Division, at Chateauvillain 
and La rort&-sur-Aube, was commanded to hasten to the south 
bank of the Marne near Chateau-Thierry and prevent the 
crossing of that river by the Germans. First to arrive was 
the Tth Machine Gun Battalion, a motorized unit of the 
Marines which, after thirty-six hours without sleep, entered. 
Chateau-Thierry at six o'clock on May 31 under a shower- 
of bursting shells to find the French fighting the Germans 
in the streets of the northern part of the town across the 
river. Taking positions, as quickly as possible, where their 
guns could sweep the banks up and down the river and the bridge 
in the center of the town, the Marines entered the fight, and 
during ninety-six hours withstood the enemy. Again and 
again the Germans came down to the river bank in attempts 
to cross only to be driven back by the splendid gunnery of the 
Americans. 

Chateau-Thierry [wrote a Keuter correspondent, describing the 
battle] lies on both banks of the Marne which is spanned by a big 
bridge. A little to the northward a canal runs parallel to the river 
and is crossed by a smaller bridge. 

The Americans had scarcely reached their quarters when news 



90 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

■was received that the Germans had broken into the northern part 
of Chateau-Thierry, having made their way through the gap they 
had driven in our lines to the left of the town and then pouring along 
the streets to the bridge, intending to establish themselves firmly on 
the south bank and capture the town. 

The American machine gunners and French Colonials were thrown 
into Chateau-Thierry together. The Americans immediately took 
over the defense of the river bank, especially the approaches to the 
bridge. Fighting with their habitual courage and using their guns 
with an accuracy which won the highest encomiums from the French, 
they brought the enemy to a standstill. 

Already wavering under the American fire, the Germans were 
counter-attacked by the French Colonials and driven from the town. 
They returned to the attack the next night and under cover of 
darkness crept into the town along the river bank and began to work 
their way through the streets toward the main bridge. At the same 
moment a tremendous artillery bombardment was opened upon the 
southern half of the town. 

When within range of the machine guns the Germans advanced 
under the cover of clouds of thick white smoke from smoke bombs, in 
order to baffle the aim of the American gunners. A surprise, how- 
ever, was in store for them. They were already crossing the bridge, 
evidently believing themselves masters of both banks, when a thunder- 
ous explosion blew the center of the bridge and a number of Ger- 
mans with it into the river. Those who reached the southern bank 
were immediately captured. 

In this battle in the streets, and again at night, the young Ameri- 
can soldiers showed a courage and determination which aroused the 
admiration of their French colonial comrades. With their machine 
guns they covered the withdrawal of troops across the bridge before 
its destruction, and although under severe fire themselves, kept all 
the approaches to the bank under a rain of bullets which nullified 
all the subsequent efforts of the enemy to cross the river. Every 
attempt of the Germans to elude the vigilance of the Americans 
resulted in disaster. 

During the last two days the enemy has renounced the occupa- 
tion of the northern part of Chateau- Thierry, which the American 
machine guns have made untenable. It now belongs to No Man's 
Land, as, since the destruction of the bridges, it is not worth while 
for the French to garrison it. 

Against their casualties the Americans can set a much greater 
loss inflicted by their bullets on the enemy. They have borne their 




Areas Gained in German Drives, 1918 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 93 

full part in what a French staff officer well qualified to judge described 
as one of the finest feats of the /war. 

Some very fine work [said the special correspondent of the London 
Times'] was done at Chateau-Thierry on May 31 and June 1 by 
American machine-guns, acting under the command of a well-known 
French fighting general. I did not see the general, who had had 
no sleep for four days. But his Chief -of -Staff was most enthusiastic 
about the services rendered to the division by our new Allies. They 
had only just arrived in their billets south of Chateau-Thierry 
when they were rushed up to the town, together with French Colonial 
troops billeted alongside of them, as soon as it was threatened by 
the enemy. They at once threw themselves into the defense, taking 
the bridge over the Marne especially under their protection, and 
thanks to the way in which they supported th§ French counter- 
attack with their machine-guns the enemy were driven right away 
from the town. 

The next day at 9 o'clock in the evening the Germans took advan- 
tage of darkness to steal up to the bridge through the suburbs on 
the west side of the town, masking their approach with smoke 
grenades which made machine-gun shooting very difficulty the town 
meanwhile being subjected to heavy bombardment. The Germans 
succeeded in reaching the bridge, and some of them, who were 
promptly made prisoners, even got to the French side. But the bulk 
of them were destroyed by an explosion thoughtfully arranged for 
them by the Americans as they were in the act of crossing th^ 
bridge, and from that time on this machine-gun unit has shown 
such vigilance in watching the bridge as well as in preventing all 
attempts to construct temporary substitutes that it has been im- 
possible for the enemy either to repair the bridge or to get across 
in any other way. 

Before the incident of the explosion the Americans had shown 
extraordinary courage in holding the position and enabling the French 
who were evacuating the north part of the town to get safely over 
to the south bank. The Colonials who were pretty competent judges 
are particularly keen about their coolness and courage under fire aa 
well as their deadly execution and the thorough way in which they 
have guarded approaches to the river. They have done their work 
so well that the Germans prefer not to occupy the part of the town 
which has been evacuated. It is not, say the French, a healthy place 
for a picnic. Nor, as a matter of fact, was the American post on this 
side of the bridge. But what they have done was worth the loss it 



94 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

cost them, not only because it enabled the French troops to get away 
from the town and has prevented the enemy from establishing him- 
self in it, but because in one action it has earned for them the 
affectionate admiration of the French by whose side they are fight- 
ing. These are allies worth having. That is what the French feel 
and say, and every Englishman will agree with them. 

Speaking at the Printers' Pension Fund dinner in London 
on June 7, Premier Lloyd George said of the American soldiers 
in Prance: 

I have only just returned from France and met a French states- 
man who had been at the front shortly after a battle in which the 
Americans took part. He was full of admiration not merely of their 
superb valor but of the trained skill with which they attacked and 
defeated the foe. 

His report of the conduct of the American troops, a division that 
had been in action for the first time, was one of the most encourag- 
ing things I have heard, because they are coming in steadily. There 
is a great flow, and we are depending upon them, and the fact that 
we know that when they appear in the ba,ttleline they will fight 
in a way which is worthy of the great traditions of their great 
country is in itself a source of support and sustenance and encour- 
agement to all of those who with anxious hearts are watching the 
conflict which is going on in France. 

On the night of June 3, the Second Division took over the 
Prencli lines, and on the morning of the 4th faced the Ger- 
mans from Belleau Wood to Bouresches village. The first 
work assigned it was to drive the enemy from observation 
points. At five o'clock on the morning of the 5th, therefore, 
the 1st and 3d Battalions of the 5th Marines, with the 167th 
Prench on the left, assaulted the edge of the wood and the crest 
of the hills near Veuilly, captured them by seven o'clock, and 
took a hundred and forty prisoners. The left having ad- 
vanced the center of the Division started forward and at five 
o'clock in the afternoon the 5th and Gth Marines with the 23d 
Infantry attacked from a point east of Bussiares to Bouresches. 
All night the two armies went forward and backward in the 
thickets and among the bowlders of the Bois de Belleau and 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 95 

the Bois de Triangle until by eight o'clock on the morning 
of the 6th the Americans had carried by storm Hill 142 half 
a mile south of Torcy, and chased the Germans out of Veuilly 
wood. The following day they gained more ground, cap- 
tured the villages of Veuilly-la-Poterie, Bussiare and Bour- 
esches, entered Torcy, took some 200 prisoners and extended 
their line over a front of six miles and to a depth of nearly 
two and a half miles. At midnight on the Yth the Germans 
counter-attacked, but, despite their use of gas, were completely 
defeated and driven back before they reached the American 
lines. Following up these successes the Marines on the 10th en- 
tered the German lines for a depth of two-thirds of a mile 
along a six-hundred-yard front in the Belleau wood just west 
of Bouresches and south of Belleau. As the Germans still 
held a part of this wood the Marines attacked again on the 
11th, took it, and captured 250 prisoners and forty machine- 
guns and trench mortars. 

Fighting in the woods was from tree to tree, from rock 
to rock. Every available spot was a nest of German machine 
guns not to be destroyed by artillery or grenade fire, but taken 
with the bayonet. In these attacks the Marines suffered heavy 
losses. Companies, it is said, which entered the fight two^ 
hundred and fifty strong were soon reduced to fifty or sixty. 
But over the bodies of the dead and wounded the boys came 
on wave after wave. Time and again the oflScers sent back 
word their men were exhausted. But the answer was that the 
lines must be held and if possible new attacks made, and 
without water, with little food, without rest, with men so 
tired that they fell asleep under shell fire, the lines were held 
and new advances made. 

A captured German officer reported that a fresh division 
was to be thrown in and a desperate effort made to wrest from 
the Marines their hard-won territory. June 13 at two o'clock 
in the morning it came, and under orders to drive back the 
Americans at all costs, to retake Bouresches and the wood how- 
ever great the loss of life, the Germans launched an attack along 



96 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

the whole front. The thin line of Marines held fast, the drive 
was checked, the Germans forced back and thousands of rounds 
of ammunition and a score of machine guns were captured 
and used against the enemy. Time after time, says Secretary 
Daniels in his account of the fight, messages such as the follow- 
ing traveled to the post command: 

Losses heavy. Difficult to get runners through. Some have never 
returned. Morale excellent, but troops about all in. Men exhausted. 

Still they fought on, gaining ground day by day until their 
position was such that they were ready for the final rush which 
was to clear the Wood of Belleau. The objective was an 
important German position south of the village of Torcy 
northwest of Chateau-Thierry. Stretching for three kilome- 
ters along a wooded hill north of the Bois de Belleau, it com- 
manded the German line and was dotted with machine-gun 
nests which gave our men much trouble. Just before six o'clock 
in the evening, of June 25, after a terrific bombardment of 
thirteen hours, the Marines advanced through the wood, throw- 
ing hand grenades and shooting from behind trees, and by 
nine o'clock had herded the Germans in the north end of the 
wood, captured 200 prisoners and practically destroyed a force 
of twelve hundred. 

From the prisoners it was learned that a German army 
had been landed in our country, that it had captured ^New 
York and was marching on Philadelphia; that another great 
drive would be made in August, that Paris would be taken, 
the American army destroyed, and peace forced on the Allies. 

The success of the 25th was followed up on the evening of 
July 1 when, after a heavy bombardment which lasted all day, 
our troops at six o'clock went over the top, captured the village 
of Vaux close to the western edge of Chateau-Thierry, recov- 
ered a piece of the Paris highway and entered the Bois de la 
Roche. On the 2nd the Germans came back with a strong 
counter-attack, but were defeated. "Our own positions," Gen- 
eral Pershing reported, "were advanced on a front of a mile 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 99 

and a half and to a depth of a thousand yards. The enemy's 
losses in killed and wounded were heavy. His regiment hold- 
ing the sector attacked offered ohstinate resistance and was 
practically annihilated. The prisoners captured in the at- 
tack and counter-attack number over five hundred and include 
six officers. This increases the total number of prisoners taken 
by our troops in this vicinity during the last month to nearly 
1,200." 

In grateful appreciation of the splendid work of the Marines 
the General commanding the French Sixth Army ordered, on 
June 30, 1918, that: 

In view of the brilliant conduct of the Fourth Brigade of the 
Second United States Division, which, in a spirited fight, took 
Bouresches and the important strong point of Bois de Belleau, stub- 
bornly defended by a large enemy force, the General commanding the 
Sixth Army orders that henceforth, in all official papers, the Bois 
de Belleau shall be named '^ois de la Brigade de Marine." 

Division General Degoutte, 

Commanding Sixth Army. 

July 6 what remained of the brigade was sent back to rest 
billets for recuperation. 

June 13 was the anniversary of the landing in France of 
the first American troops, and because of the great things done 
by those troops, by those who followed, and by the people who 
sent them, the day was made the occasion for expressions of 
gratitude and appreciation by men high in public affairs in 
France. President Poincare in a cablegram to President 
Wilson said: 

The Allies, owing to the Eussian Capitulation, are living through 
the most difficult hours of the war, but the rapid formation of new 
American units and the uninterrupted increase in oversea transpor- 
tation are leading us with certainty towards the day when the equili- 
brium will be restored. 

President Wilson replied: 

Tour telegram of yesterday was certainly conceived in the highest 
and most generous spirit of friendship and I am sure that I am 



100 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

expressing the feeling of the people of the United States as well as 
my own, when I say that it is with increasing pride and gratifica- 
tion that they have seen their forces under General Pershing more 
and more actively cooperating with the forces of liberation on 
French soil. It is their fixed and unalterable purpose to send men 
and materials in steady and increasing volume until any temporary 
inequality of force is entirely overcome and the forces of freedom 
made overwhelming, for they are convinced that it is only by victory 
that peace can be achieved and the world's affairs settled upon a 
basis of enduring justice and right. It is a constant satisfaction to 
them to know that in this great enterprise they are in close and 
intimate cooperation with the people of France. 

General Pershing was congratulated by the President of 
France, the Premier, and by Generals Foch and Petain. "The 
anniversary of your arrival in France," said President Poin- 
care, "furnishes a bappy occasion to address my warmest con- 
gratulations to you and the valiant troops which you command, 
and who have so admirably conducted themselves in the recent 
battles. I beg you to receive the assurance of my best wishes 
for their success." 

On the anniversary of your arrival in France to take command 
of the American forces, I wish [said M. Clemenceau] to express 
to you once more, my dear General, the greatest admiration for the 
powerful aid brought by your army to the cause of the allies. With 
ever-increasing numbers the American troops cover themselves with 
glory under your orders in barring the route of the invader. The 
day is coming when, thanks to the superb effort of your country 
and the valor of its persons the enemy, losing the initiative of 
operations, will be forced to bow before the triumph of our ideal 
of justice and civilization. 

A year ago [said General Foch] brought to us the American 
sword. To-day we have seen it strike. It is the certain pledge of 
victory. By it our hearts are more closely united than ever. 

Your coming to French soil a year ago filled our country with 
enthusiasm and hope [said General Petain]. Accept to-day the 
grateful homage of our soldiers for the daily increasing aid on the 
battlefield brought by their American brothers in arms. The last 
battles, where the magnificent qualities of courage and military virtue 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 101 

of your troops were demonstrated in so brilliant a manner, are a 
sure guarantee of the future. The day is not far off when the great 
American army will play the decisive role to which history calls this 
army on the battlefields of Europe. Permit me, my dear general, 
to express to you on this anniversary day, my entire confidence and 
assure you of my feelings of affectionate comradeship. 

Between Yillers-Bretonneux and the Somme on July 4 Aus- 
tralian troops and American infantry surged forward at dawn 
of day, behind a fleet of tanks, captured Hamel village, drove 
the Germans out of Vaire and Hamel Wood and sent back 
fifteen hundred prisoners to the cages. 

The victory was a fitting one to mark the day, but greater 
celebrations were held at home and abroad. Standing at tbe 
Tomb of Washington, President Wilson surrounded by the 
diplomatic representatives of the Entente powers and neutral 
nations again restated "the ends for which the associated peo- 
ples of the world are fighting." 

This, then, is our conception of the great struggle in which we 
are engaged. The plot is written plain upon every scene and every 
act of the supreme tragedy. On the one hand stand the peoples of 
the world, not only the people actually engaged, but many others 
also who suffer under mastery but cannot act; peoples of many races 
in every part of the world, the people of stricken Russia still, 
among the rest, though they are for the moment unorganized, and 
helpless. Opposed to them, masters of many armies, stand an 
isolated group of governments who speak no common purpose but 
only selfish ambitions of their own by which none can profit but 
themselves, and whose peoples are fuel in their hands; governments 
which fear their people and yet are for the time their sovereign 
lords, making every choice for them and disposing of their lives and 
fortunes as they will, as well as of the lives and fortunes of every 
people who fall under their power, governments clothed with the 
strange trappings and the primitive authority of an age that is 
altogether alien and hostile to our own. The past and the present 
are in deadly grapple and the peoples of the world are being done 
to death between them. 

There can be but one issue. The settlement must be final. There 
can be no compromise. No half-way decision would be tolerable. 
No half-way decision is conceivable. These are the ends for which 



102 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

the associated peoples of the world are fighting and which must 
be conceded them before there can be peace. 

First. The destruction of every arbitrary power anywhere that 
can separately, secretly and of its single choice disturb the peace 
of the world; or, if it cannot be presently destroyed, at the least it^ 
reduction to virtual impotence. 

Second. The settlement of every question, whether of territory, 
of sovereignty, of economic arrangement or of political relationship, 
upon the basis of the free acceptance of that settlement by the people 
immediately concerned, and not upon the basis of the material 
interest or advantage of any other nation or people which may desire 
a different settlement for the sake of its own exterior influence or 
mastery. 

Third. The consent of all nations to be governed in their con- 
duct toward each other by the same principles of honor and of 
respect for the common law of civilized society that govern the 
individual citizens of all modern States in their relations with one 
another, to the end that all promises and covenants may be sacredly 
observed, no private plots or conspiracies hatched, no selfish injuries 
wrought with impunity and a mutual trust established upon the 
handsome foundation of a mutual respect for right. 

Fourth. The establishment of an organization of peace which 
shall make it certain that the combined power of free nations will 
check every invasion of right and serve to make peace and justice 
the more secure by affording a definite tribunal of opinion to which 
all must submit and by which every international readjustment that 
cannot be amicably agreed upon by the peoples directly concerned 
shall be sanctioned. 

These great objects can be put into a single sentence: What we 
seek is the reign of law, based upon the consent of the governed and 
sustained by the organized opinion of mankind. 

In Philadelphia there was a great parade of foreign-bom 
citizens and the signing of a new Declaration of Independence, 
independence of militarism. At the head of the procession 
as it passed down Broad Street to City Hall and on to In- 
dependence Square marched marines and sailors from the 
'Na.vj Yard, veterans of the Civil War and wounded soldiers 
of the Allies. Then came the foreign born, many thousand 
in number, representing four and twenty nations, dressed many 
of them in their national costumes, carrying inscribed baa- 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 103 

ners and accompanied by floats. In Independence Hall, in the 
chamber where the Declaration of 1776 was adopted, five rep- 
resentatives of each nation signed a declaration of intent to 
wage relentless war on autocracy. The signing finished the 
signers passed to a stage in the Square where the Declaration 
was read and formally adopted. The representatives of each 
nation whose names were affixed were then called upon to give 
a verbal pledge, and having done so, the bell in the tower 
struck once for each nation. 

Abroad the day was widely observed. Lloyd George in a 
message to General Pershing assured him: 

We join with our whole heart in your Fourth of July celebrations. 
Once a bitter memory, we now know that the events to which you 
dedicate these rejoicings forced the British empire back to the path 
of freedom from which in a moment of evil counsel it departed. 

The entry of the United States army into this great struggle for 
human liberty, side by side with the allies, is sure proof that the 
mistakes and misunderstandings which formerly estranged our two 
countries are being transformed into a genuine friendship in the 
fiery furnace of common sacrifice. 

The American army in France [was Pershing's reply] feels 
special satisfaction in knowing that yours is beside it for the anni-_ 
versary of the Declaration of Independence. I have learned with 
equal pleasure that the people of England are uniting with our 
soldiers and sailors to celebrate the Fourth with unusual brilliance, 
uniting for a manifestation of sympathy and international concord, 
which will remain a memorable date in the history of our two 
nations. 

Pield Marshal Haig, the British Commander-in-Chief, sent 
greetings in behalf of the British army in Flanders. 

In behalf of myself and the whole army in France and Flanders, 
I beg you to accept for yourself and the troops of your command 
my warmest greetings on American Independence Day. Fourth of 
July this year soldiers of America, France and Great Britain wiU 
spend side by side for the first time in history in defense of the 
great principle of liberty, which is the proudest inheritance and 
the most cherished possession of their several nations. That liberty 



104. THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

which the British, Americans and French won for themselves they 
will not fail to hold, not only for themselves, but for the world. With 
the heartiest good wishes for you and your gallant army. 

On the Chelsea Football Ground there was a baseball game, 
between nines from the American army and navy, to which 
came the King and Queen, the Royal Eamily, and a host of 
titled personages and people of distinction. When the game 
was about to begin the King left the Royal box, shook hands 
with the Captains and presented a ball on which he had writ- 
ten his name. Another was used in the match and the auto- 
graphed ball was preserved to be sent to President Wilson. 
Our flag was everywhere in London. It was sold on the 
streets, worn on the person, carried by taxicabs and mail vans. 
Lord and Lady Albemarle presented a full length portrait 
of Washington to be hung in Ko. 10 Downing Street, to com- 
memorate our entrance into the war. The portrait was painted 
by Charles Wilson Peale, was on a vessel captured on its way 
to Holland by the British Captain Keppel, was appropriated 
by him and inherited by the Earl. 

From the heads of the Allied Governments came congratu- 
lations to President Wilson. President Poincare sent the 
wishes and felicitations of France. 

The government of the republic, at one with all the national rep- 
resentatives and the whole country, ordained that to-morrow, the In- 
dependence Day of the United States, shall also be a French holiday. 
Paris will give your glorious name to one of its handsomest avenues 
and acclaim to the skies the parade of the valiant American soldiers. 
In every department, in every town, large and small, these mani- 
festations of fraternity will be echoed. Two peoples in communion of 
thought will, one and all, remember the fights of old that won liberty 
for America, and hope for the forthcoming victories which will 
secure for the world a just and fruitful peace based on the law of 
nations and fortified by the approval of human conscience. Permit 
me, Mr. President, cordially to extend to you on the eve of that 
great day of union and confidence the wishes and felicitations of 
France for the United States and yourself. 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 105 

The King of tlae Belgians sent thanks for the efforts of 
America to relieve his stricken people, and expressed his ad- 
miration for the hravery of our boys. 

On the occasion of the memorable anniversary occurring on the 
Fourth of July I wish to thank once more the great American nation 
for its untiring efforts toward ameliorating the unfortunate condi- 
tion of my fellow countrymen and to express to it my admiration 
for the bravery displayed by its great army on the battlefields of 
France. Be pleased, Mv. President, to accept the ardent wishes I 
make for the greatness and prosperity of the United States of 
America. 

King Emmanuel of Italy sent expressions of brotherly 
feeling. 

Even on proclaiming their independence the American people 
affirmed that their mission in the world was one of liberty and justice; 
they have nobly kept faith with that supreme ideal, always and more 
than ever in that ruthless conflict of all the people by spontaneously 
intervening in the defense of right against violence. Wherefore, 
this anniversary is to-day celebrated by all the free peoples as it 
were their own gladsome holiday, as a rite portending the victory 
of Liberty and Justice. Italy, unshaken in her resolution to bear and 
do everything in the great common cause, sends to the people of the' 
United States her expression of brotherly sympathy at the very 
moment when she enthusiastically and proudly welcomes the sons 
of America who have come to fight by the side of her own sons. To 
you, Mr. President, who, with enlightened wisdom and unswerving 
decision, worthily preside over the destinies of your very great 
nation, I am glad to manifest those sentiments, those purposes and 
that confidence of the Italian people. 

King Alexander of Greece joined the Hellenic people in 
cordial felicitations and ardent wishes for the happiness and 
prosperity of our people. 

On this memorable day in which the great republic celebrates the 
anniversary of its independence, I join the Hellenic people in ex- 
pressing to you, Mr. President, and to the American nation, my 
cordial felicitations and the ardent wishes I make for the happiness 
and prosperity of the American people. The republic's participation 



106 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

in the world war constitutes all tlie more valuable a factor in the 
Allies' struggle, as it has for its sole aim the defense of the impre- 
scriptible rights of the oppressed peoples and the restitution of their 
spoliated property. 

The Majors of Meux and nearby towns in a letter to the 
American commander said: 

The civilian population wiU never forget that since the beginning 

of June, when their homes were threatened by the invader, the 

Division victoriously stepped forth and succeeded in saving them 
from the impending danger. They were eyewitnesses of the generous 
and effective deeds of the American army in stopping the enemy 
advance, and send heartfelt expression of their admiration and 
gratitude. 

General Joffre wrote to the Echo de Paris: 

The entry of America into the war brought the Allies moral 
strength of the deepest meaning, but the great sister republic did 
not want to content herself with sentimental manifestations. With 
all her material power she has ranged herself beside us. Thanks to 
American assistance, we shall surmount all the perils of the hour and 
come out gloriously from the trials of so long a war. 

Prom the Belgian minister at Havre in behalf of the Belgian 
army came cordial greetings to General Pershing. 

On this memorable day I send you the cordial greetings and re- 
spectful sympathy of the Belgian army, which associated itself with 
your national fete with elan and fervor, the troops who for nearly 
four years have been fighting resolutely for the independence of 
their country. On this occasion detachments of all arms defiled 
before the American colors floating over the Flanders plain. All 
hearts are united in the same wish, success to the allied armies, and 
look forward to the glorious day when your troops, in their turn, 
will defile before our tri-colored flag hoisted in our reconquered cities. 

Lord Beading, the British Ambassador, gave out this mes- 
sage to the American people: 

To-day the thoughts of all people in my country are centered on 
America, and from millions of hearts prayers will ascend for your 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 107 

great nation and for your gallant men on sea and land, and for 
your brave women who minister to them. These men and women, 
worthy representatives of the nation, have, as all of you, that indi- 
vidual and passionate love of liberty which collectively, as a nation, 
is your ideal and lodestar. 

Loving liberty and freedom, you have taken up arms because the 
freedom of the world is in peril. With us and our allies you intend 
to destroy that menace, and when there comes, as assuredly there 
will, the end of Prussianism, there will arise a new independence 
day which will be the glorious common heritage of all those nations 
which have set their faces to the light. 

Andre Tardieu, Frencb high, commissioner to the United 
States, sent a message in the name of France to the citizens 
of JSTew York, Baltimore, Washington and Toledo, where 
French, soldiers and sailors took part in the celebrations. 

I Lave been happy to learn that detachments of our army and 
navy wiU participate in the celebration of the Fourth of July in your 
city. Our soldiers will be the living messengers of the sentiments 
that on this great day fill all French hearts. France in arms, full 
of confidence, sends to your fellow citizens her cordial greetings. 

At Eome there was a celebration attended by officials of the 
government and the city at the Victor Emmanuel monument 
and a procession to the residence of the American Ambassador 
where a speaker tendered the greetings of Italy to America. 
Demonstrations were also held in Turin, Florence, Genoa, 
!N"aples and Perugia, and the day was made a national holiday 
in San Salvador, l!^icaragua, Brazil and Peru. At St. Pierre, 
Martinique, at Algiers, at Tunis, the Fourth of July was cele- 
brated as a national fete. 

!N"ever before had foreign nations taken note of Independence 
Day. 

Ten days later, July 14, Bastile Day, came our opportunity 
to express admiration for France. By a spontaneous move- 
ment of our people, without any official call, the day was 
gladly made one of demonstration over all our land. From 
President Wilson went a message to the people of France. 



108 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Congress sent greetings from tlie American people, President 
Poincare and General Foch replied, and Samuel Gompers in 
behalf of the American Federation of Labor addressed the 
French people. 

On all fronts where our boys were stationed thej wore the 
French colors, displayed French flags on billets and trucks 
and joined their French comrades in celebrating the day. At 
Lyons a new bridge over the Rhone was opened with due cere- 
monies and named Pont Wilson. At home more than two 
hundred cities observed the day. At ^ew York there were 
salutes from warships in the harbor and special services in the 
churches, open-air meetings and a great mass meeting at night 
in Madison Square Garden to which the Ambassadors of Great 
Britain, France and Italy spoke. 

The celebration of Bastile Day had scarcely closed in Paris 
when the Germans, at dawn on July 15, began a fifth drive, 
this time on both sides of Rheims from Chateau-Thierry on 
the west, to a famous field-work, the (Main de Massiges in the 
Champagne Sector on the east. The objective was Epernay 
on the west of Rheims, and Chalons-sur-Marne on the east. 
Had the attack succeeded, had these towns been captured, 
Rheims must have been forced to surrender, the lines of com- 
munication at Epernay and Chalons would have been cut and 
Verdun seriously threatened. But it did not succeed. The 
French stood firm as a rock and were well supported in the 
fight by two battalions of the 165th Infantry, better known 
as N'ew York's "Fighting 69th," which that day held a small 
part of the front at Somme-Py. It belonged to the 42d, "the 
Rainbow," Division, stationed in the rear to drive back the 
Germans should they break through. 

West of Rheims and north of the Marne the fighting was 
especially severe and the French and Italians were forced back 
to a line running south through Bouilly, Marfaux, Cuchery, 
Chatillon-sur-Marne. Between Chatillon and Mezy the enemy 
crossed the Marne at several places and, sweeping all before 
him, drove the French south of the Bois de Conde, south to 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 109 

St. Agnan, and around to Comblizj. N^ear Mezy was the 
right flank of the 3d Division, which held the south bank 
of the Marne from Chateau-Thierry eastward. The Germans 
having crossed the river, opened fire on Mezy to drive the 38th 
Regiment, the right flank of the 3d Division, into their dug- 
outs, and under a thick cloud of smoke which completely hid 
them from view attempted to cross the Marne in boats. Had 
the Americans gone into their dugouts the crossing would have 
been easy; but they remained in the open, fired with rifles and 
machine guns through the smoke screen at the German boats 
and prevented all save one getting across. As it touched the 
bank its occupants were made prisoners. East of Mezy the 
Germans made a landing and met the men of the 38th Infantry. 
In the fighting which followed one of its platoons was anni- 
hilated, and a second almost cut to pieces, but reinforcements 
came, the enemy were driven to the railroad skirting the south 
bank, and six hundred prisoners were taken. Later the Ger- 
mans were driven across the river as far as Jaulgonne. Con- 
cerning this fight General Pershing said: 

A single regiment of the 3d wrote one of the most brilliant pages 
in our military annals on the occasion. It prevented the crossing 
at certain points on its front, while on either flank, the Germans' 
who had gained a footing, pressed forward. Our men, firing in three 
directions, met the German attacks with counter-attacks at critical 
points and succeeded in throwing two German Divisions into complete 
confusion, capturing six hundred prisoners. 

The victory was indeed a great one. Aigain our army checked 
a drive on Chateau-Thierry, the pivot on which the Germans 
expected to swing their army southward towards Paris. Again 
was demonstrated the splendid fighting qualities of the Ameri- 
can soldier. Our Allies were heartened and by them the vic- 
tory was hailed with delight. The London Telegraph said: 

The feature of the battle upon which the eyes of all the world 
are fixed, and those of the enemy with particular intentness, is the 
conduct of the American troops. The magnificent counter-attack 
in which the American Army corps flung back the Germans upon 



110 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

the Marne after they had crossed was much more than the out- 
standing event of the first day's fighting. It was one of the his- 
torical incidents of the whole war in its moral significance. 

The Graphic thought that: 

Our French comrades should admit the chief honors in the initial 
days to the resistance of the American troops. The Americans 
showed the enemy the stern stuff of which they are made, and also 
proved by their tactics that they have taken the measure of Luden- 
dorff's favorite method. They demonstrated the wisdom of the policy 
of hitting at an offensive as soon as it shows itself. 

To the Daily News: 

By far the most interesting and gratifying event of the battle was 
the achievement of the Americans. They held, perhaps, the most 
critical position and kept their front intact. Their success was a 
significance which the enemy wiU best appreciate. The Germans 
have been buoyed up with a belief that the war would be over before 
the American factor in the struggle became a reality. That be- 
lief is now shattered. It never can be restored. That is the momen- 
tous fact that emerges from the battle of Fossoy. 

When Mr. Bonar Law announced in the House of Com- 
mons that the Americans had driven the Germans across the 
Marne the good news was greeted with cheers. 

Korth of Chateau-Thierry an attack was made on the Ameri- 
cans, but they quickly broke it down, drove back the enemy 
several hundred yards and did not return to their old position 
until the advance of the Germans southeast of Chateau-Thierry 
made the reoccupation of their trenches necessary. 

Tuesday, July 16, found the battle line soutb of the Marne 
running from Fossoy through Crezancy, St. Agnan, La 
Chapelle-Monthodon, Oeuilly; but the French and Americans 
by a brilliant counter-attack recovered St. Agnan and La 
Chapelle-Monthodon. On the following day the enemy made 
gains between the Marne and Rheims, in some places to a 
depth of a mile and a half. There tbe advance stopped, for, 
on July 18, Foch opened the offensive which, drove the Ger- 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 111 

mans back to the Hindenburg line and never ended until three 
months later when the armistice went into force. This he was 
able to do, because the great movement of troops from our 
country was well under way and thousands were arriving 
each week ; because what our men had done showed what those 
coming would do, and because, sure of an endless supply of 
splendid fighting Americans, he was enabled to freely use his 
reserves. On July 18, therefore, when the great Allied of- 
fensive began, every available American soldier was put in 
the line, and the First and Second Divisions with some chosen 
French divisions were sent to the front west of Soissons. The 
line ran from in front of Ambleny to Laversine, Cutry and 
into the Foret de Retz. At the northern end was a French 
Division; then came the American 1st Division; then a Mo- 
roccan Division and then the American 2d Division, and 
near Chateau-Thierry the 26th Division. The 1st had marched 
down from Cantigny to the neighborhood of St. Pierre- 
Aigle-Cutry-Laversine. During four days and nights, now 
on foot, now on trucks, over unknown roads, and through 
woods lest the enemy should observe the movement, the men 
went on with scarce any rest and at dawn on July 18 advanced 
to the attack. Before them lay the villages of Missy-aux^ 
Bois, Ploisy, Berzy-le-Sec and the highway leading down from 
Soissons to Paris clearly marked by the lines of trees on either 
side. All of these places were to be taken and the highway 
crossed that day. Such was the resistance met with that night 
found the division on the Missy-aux-Bois-Chaudun line with 
the right well in advance of the left. That night the enemy 
was heavily reenforced; but at four o'clock on the 19th the 
1st Division again went forward with a line from Berzy-le- 
Seo to Buzancy as its objective. Neither village was to be 
taken, but merely the ground between, for the one lay in the 
sector of a French and the other in the sector of the Moroccan 
Division. Desperate fighting brought the Americans to 
Chazelle; but the French were unable to reach Berzy-le-Sec 
and the Americans were ordered to take it early in the after- 



112 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

noon of July 20. At two o'clock, accordingly, after a furious 
barrage, the left of the Division went forward. Then followed 
a desperate struggle which lasted until morning. Again and 
again all that afternoon and night the lines swept backward 
and forward in attack and counter-attack. Machine-gun nests 
were taken, lost, and taken again, and the men fought with 
bayonets, trench knives, hand grenades. So heavy were the 
losses that the expediency of relieving it was seriously con- 
sidered, but early in the morning of July 21 one last effort 
was made and the men rushed over the ruins of Berzy-le-Sec, 
capturing machine guns, a field battery and hundreds of 
prisoners. On the right the 1st Brigade was then across the 
Chateau-Thierry highway. July 22 the 1st Division was 
relieved and sent to a rest area near Paris.-^ 

The 2d Division, which on the morning of July 18 occu- 
pied a sector from Chavigny Farm to a point across the 
Soissons-Paris highway, fought its way through Vaucastille, 
encountered desperate resistance at the village of Vierzy, and 
by night was halfway between Vierzy and Tigny. July 19 
Tigny was captured and the Bois d'Hartennes reached and 
there, reduced to almost half its strength, the Division was 
relieved by the French. Further down the front behind the 
Savieres River near Troesnes were troops of the 4th Division 
fighting with the French. July 18 when Foch began his great 
offensive they crossed the Savieres, passed the village of ISToroy- 
sur-Ourcq, and by evening on the following day were wejl 
past Chouy, where, on the 25th, they were relieved. Still 
further south other units of the 4th, fighting with the French, 
took Hautevesnes, and Courchamp, la Grenouilliers, and Som- 
melans, and by the night of July 22 had crossed the Soissons- 
Chateau-Thierry highway and were in the Bois-du-Chatelet. 
That night they were withdrawn and the whole 4th Division 
sent to reserve positions.^ 

Still further south was the 26th Division, which relieved 

* Stars and Stripes, January 3, 1919. 
'Ibid., February 14, 1919. 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 113 

the 2d on July 10, and held a sector from near Vaux to near 
Bussiares. July 18 it, too, went forward and under cover 
of a heavy mist surprised the enemy, captured Torcy, Belleau 
and Givry, and was there held by the failure of the Trench 
to reach their objective, Licy, Monthiers and Hill 193. Small 
gains were made on the 20th. Early on the 21st the Germans 
withdrew from Chateau-Thierry and began a retreat, fol- 
lowed all day by the Trench and Americans who by evening 
had carried their advance well across the Soissons-Oulchy- 
Chateau-Thierry highway to near Epieds and Trugny. There 
more resistance was met until the morning of the 24th, when 
it was found the Germans were again in retreat. Once more 
they were pursued towards the Fere-en-Tardenois-Jaulgonne 
highway, near which at evening the advance was checked. 
That night the 26th was relieved by the 42 d.^ During three 
days no important advance was made between Soissons and 
Oulchy-le-Chateau ; but from that town to the Marne and along 
it to Chatillon the battle raged fiercely. Along the crests north- 
east of Chateau-Thierry, and about the village of Epieds, our 
troops met with desperate resistance. German infantry, hur- 
ried forward to check the advance, held our men at bay for 
thirty-six hours, and three times drove them from Epieds.- 
During this fighting the village, from ceaseless bombardment 
by both sides, disappeared. Meantime the Americans had 
taken the slopes on either side, brought their artillery to the 
crests, and fired on the Germans until none were left to sur- 
render. At the edge of the woods near the hamlet of Trugny 
German machine guns held back the advance a little longer, 
but, making a feint frontal attack, the Americans, in Indian 
fashion, crept around the flanks, captured the guns and car- 
ried their line a mile to the north of Epieds. 

Pushing on through the Foret-de-Eere and the Eoret-de- 
Riz, filled with German machine guns, our troops by July 
25 had carried their front to a line from Beuvardes to Le 
Charmel. The 3d Division, meantime, from its position at the 

'Stars and Stripes, January 10, 1919. 



114, THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

bend of the Marne east, of Chateau-Thierry, had fought its 
way to the line Frenes-Roncheres, where on July 27 men from 
the 28th Division relieved it. 

The Allied front then ran from near Fontenoy southeast- 
ward to near Soissons, southward around Buzancy and along 
the Soissons-Chateau-Thierry highway to Oulchy-le^ChateaU, 
and then eastward through Bruyeres, Courmont, Roncheres, 
Passy-Grigny, la iNeuville, Chaumuzy, Vrigny, to the old line 
near Ormes. July 28 the 42d Division forced the passage of 
the Ourcq River and captured the villages of Sergy and 
Seringes by assault. At Sergy the Americans met two of the 
best divisions of the German army, the 4th Prussian Guards 
and the Bavarians, which had been held in reserve and then 
hurried through the retreating Germans to attack the Ameri- 
cans. Their first attack was successful and our men were 
forced out of Sergy, Seringes-et-Nesles and a few hamlets. 
In the streets of the little towns, on the slopes of the river 
banks, in the water, the fighting was often hand-to-hand. 
Again and again the line of battle went backwards and for- 
wards until late in the afternoon the 42d Division for the 
ninth time captured Sergy and held it. 

As our men swept through the Foret-de-Fere and the Foret- 
de-Riz, they found the forests and the country round about 
a great arsenal. At some places more than an acre was cov- 
ered with shells of all calibers. Along the edges of the woods 
they were stacked in long rows; along the roads and open 
spots they were camouflaged with limbs of trees; they were 
piled in every clump of trees, under every patch of shrub- 
bery, while along the edges of the woods, mile after mile were 
cases of cartridges. July 28 the 55th Brigade of the 28th 
Division took over the line between the 42d and ihe 3d Divi- 
sions, along the Ourcq in front of the Bois de Grimpettes, 
and Cierges, and early on the morning of the 29th opened 
an attack, but made no progress during the day. That night 
the 3d Division was relieved by the 32d, which took position 
on the right of the 28th and three hours la,ter, on the morning 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 115 

of tlie 30th, went over the top and by dark had entered the 
Bois des Grimpettes and were close to Cierges. That night, 
July 30-31, the 28th Division was relieved and the 32d occu- 
pied the entire front of the sector. Desperate fighting July 
31 and August 1 brought the capture of Cierges and Hill 
230 north of it. Capture of the Hill forced the Germans to 
retreat and the advance to the Yesle at once began. 

In the opening days of August the whole line of the Allies 
went forward. The French entered Soissons, the Crise River 
was crossed along its whole length, and Goussancourt, Villers 
Agron, Coulonges and Ville-en-Tardenois were taken. The 
German retreat now became hasty, and by the night of August 
3 the Allies had advanced from Soissons eastward along the 
Aisne River to the Vesle and along that river to the neighbor- 
hood of Rheims. The Americans were then in the outskirts 
of Fismes, which on August 4 the 127th Infantry, 32d Divi- 
sion, carried by storm. The men of the 32d were, during 
the night of August 6-7, relieved by men from the 28th Divi- 
sion, who during the night of the 7th forced the passage of 
the Yesle and the next morning captured and held the village 
of Fismette until August 27, when they were driven across_ 
the river. To the west, on August 3 the 4th Division relieved 
the 42 d near the village of St. Thibaut, some five kilometers 
west of Fismes, took it on the morning of August 5, forced 
a crossing of the river on the night of the 6th, made their 
way to the Soissons-Bazoches-Rheims highway, and entered 
outskirts of Bazoches, but August 9 were driven back across 
the river, and during the night of the ll-12th were relieved 
by the 77th Division. The Marne salient was gone. 

Three months had now passed since the British and French 
forces along the front north of Montdidier had struck an im- 
portant blow. But their turn had come and early on the 
morning of August 8, after a violent artillery preparation, the 
blow was struck, and the German lines for twenty miles along 
the Albert-Montdidier front east of Amiens were vigorously 
attacked. The Germans were taken by surprise. !Neverthe- 



116 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

less north of tlie Somme at Morlancourt and Chipilly and south 
of the Somme at Moreuil the fighting was desperate ; elsewhere 
the enemy fled in haste, leaving behind in the ruined houses 
and dugouts personal belongings, letters, official papers, books, 
photographs, and uniforms. By nightfall the Erench and 
British had reached Plessier, Beaucourt, Caix, Framerville, 
Chipilly, and were west of Morlancourt. This was but the 
beginning. Day after day the drive continued; day after day 
the enemy fell back until when a week had gone by the battle 
front was a little to the west of Chaulnes, Boye, Lassigny 
and east of Ribecourt. When the month of August closed 
the British had pushed their front eastward from near Arras 
to La Bassee, had crossed the Hindenburg line southeast of 
Arras, and taken Peronne; the ^French, seven miles south of 
that city, had crossed the Somme canal; IN'oyon had been 
wrested from the Germans and the Americans had captured 
Juvigny and advanced two miles east of it, after an all day 
desperate fight, and had taken 600 prisoners. During the 
first weeks of September the progress of the Allies was slower. 
^Nevertheless gain was made and by September 12 the Brench 
were closing in on St. Quentin and La Bere. 

That day will ever be memorable in our history, for then 
it was our army struck its first gi-eat blow and began its first 
great drive in France. With the destruction of the Mame 
salient oui- period of tutelage ended. That American units 
should be scattered along the front holding portions of the line 
under command of foreign officers was neither necessary nor 
desirable. We could not consent to send two million or more 
men to France to fight under any other than American leader- 
ship. August 10 accordingly the 1st American Army was 
organized with General Pershing as Commander-in-Chief. 

The work assigned to this army was the destruction of the 
St. Mihiel salient, which since 1914 had remained thrust into 
the French line, and from August 21 to September 12 prepara- 
tions were made with the utmost secrecy for the attack. All 
divisions scattered along the west front, save the 2'J'th and 30th 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 119 

which were left with the British, were brought down to the 
sector and moved into the woods at night. !No unusual activity 
either of traffic, of air service or of artillery was allowed. Even 
the new heavy guns when they came were not permitted to fire 
registration shots, for the attack if possible was to be a surprise. 
These preparations involved the movement of divisions, the 
organization of corps, the assembling of artillery, transports, 
aircrafts, tanks and ambulances, the building of hospitals, and 
the placing of some six hundred thousand fighting men. The 
French loaned some divisions and artillery and placed their 
Independent Air Force at Pershing's command ; the British 
sent bombing squadrons, and these, with our own air men, gave 
us the largest aviation force ever brought together in any one 
sector. 

Along the front, when finally taken over, from Ronvaux to a 
point a few miles west of St. Remy, were the 4th American 
Division, the 15th French and the 26th American, forming the 
5th Corps. From the right of the 26th southward around St. 
Mihiel and eastward to near Xivray were the French Colonial 
troops. From Xivray to Clemery were the 1st, 42 d and 89th 
American Divisions, forming the 4th Corps, and the 2d, 5th_ 
and 90th Divisions, forming the 1st Corps, and then the 82d. 

The German line along the west side of the salient and 
around its point occupied high ground, running over the crests 
of ranges of hills. On the low ground at the point of the 
salient was the town of St. Mihiel, whereLthe Germans held the^ 
inhabitants to prevent the French shelling the place and driving 
out German troops. From St. Mihiel their line ran along the 
hills to Apremont and then across the low valley of the Eupt 
de Mad river to the hills east of Pont-a-Mousson. Dominating 
this valley v^as the isolated peak known as Montsec, from which 
the enemy observers could distinctly see all that went on behind 
the American line. 

Defending the salient were nine German Divisions, two- 
thirda of which were Landwehr, Austro-Hungarians and second 
class troops. According to the plan of battle, the main attack 



120 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

was to be made down the open valley of the Eupt de Mad, the 
5th Corps at the northwest end was to advance into the hills 
that rose before it, and if as a result of this pinching the Ger- 
mans retreated, the French Colonials were to follow them. 

At one o'clock on the dark and rainy morning of September 
12, just four years to a day since the Germans thrust the salient 
into the French lines, the artillery preparation began and shells 
were dropped on batteries, dugouts, trenches and on Montsec, 
in particular, which was drenched with smoke shells to blind the 
German observers. 

At four o'clock the rolling barrage was laid and at five o'clock 
seven American divisions moved forward to the attack along a 
ten-mile front east of St. Mihiel. At six o'clock another attack 
opened along a shorter front north of St. Mihiel, and at eight 
the French moved against the town itself at the apex of the 
salient. Following close after the American barrage went the 
tanks, then groups of wire cutters, then the infantry in open 
order, while overhead airplanes in low flying squadrons dropped 
bombs on the German infantry. Taken by surprise the enemy 
made but little resistance. Only here and there was the fighting 
stubborn, and along the southern front the Americans advanced 
rapidly to Thiaucourt, Pannes, Montsec. At the northwest 
end of the salient the French in their advance were retarded 
by heavy fire on their exposed left flank, and so was the 26th 
American Division by machine-gTUi fire in the hills south of 
St. Remy. Neither made all its objectives that day, but during 
the night the 102d Regiment in column formation was marched 
down a highway, through the German lines, and shortly after 
three o'clock in the morning found itself in the village of 
Hattonchatel. Yet a little while and a patrol from the 1st 
Division entered the town and to their astonishment found it 
full of Americans. Thus was it that in twenty-seven hours after 
the battle opened the St. Mihiel salient vanished. 

Besides liberating more than 150 square miles of territory and 
taking 15,000 prisoners [said General Pershing] we have captured 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 121 

a mass of material. Over 200 guns of all calibers, and hundreds 
of machine guns and trench mortars have been taken. In spite of 
the fact that the enemy during his retreat burned large stores, a 
partial examination of the battlefield shows that great quantities 
of ammunition, telegraph material, railroad material, rolling stock, 
clothes and equipment have been abondoned. Further evidence of 
the haste with which the enemy retreated is found in the uninjured 
bridges which he left behind. 

At the cost of only seven thousand casualties, mostly light, [said 
General Pershing in his final report,] we have taken 16,000 prisoners, 
443 guns, a great quantity of material, released the inhabitants of 
many villages from enemy domination, and established our lines in 
a position to threaten. Metz. ^This signal success of the American 
First Army in its first offensive was of prime importance. The Allies 
found they had a formidable army to aid them, and the enemy learned 
finally that he had one to reckon with. The French took the town 
of St. Mihiel. 

Among the prisoners were several thousand Austro-Hun- 
garians. 

In anticipation of such an attack [said the German report] the 
evacuation of this salient, liable to encirclement on both sides, which 
has been under consideration for years, was begun a few days ago. 
We did not therefore fight this battle to a finish, but carried out- 
the movements contemplated, which the enemy was unable to prevent 
... In the night the evacuation of the salient was completed 
without interference. 

Congratulations on this splendid victory now came from 
France and Great Britain. King George, in a message to the 
President, said: 

On behalf of the British Empire I heartily congratulate you on 
the brilliant achievement of the American and Allied troops under 
the leadership of General Pershing in the St. Mihiel salient. The 
far-reaching results secured by these successful operations, which 
have marked the active intervention of the American Army on a 
great scale under its own administration, are the happiest augury for 
the completion, and I hope, not far distant triumph of the Allied 
cause. 



122 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Mr. Lloyd George telegraphed General Pershing: 

I desire to offer to you and your brave Armies heartiest congratula- 
tions on your great victory. The enemy has made many mistakes in 
this great war, and none greater than when he underrated the valor, 
determination, and intrepid spirit of the brave soldiers of the United 
States of America. Now he has tasted the mettle of the American 
Armies the enemy knows what is in store for him. The news came 
to me on a sick bed. It was better, and infinitely more palatable, 
than any physic. 

General Sir Douglas Haig assured General Pershing that : 

All ranks of the British Armies in Prance welcome with unbounded 
admiration and pleasure the victory which has attended the initial 
offensive of the great American Army under your personal command. 
I beg of you to accept, and to convey to all ranks, my best congratula- 
tions and those of all ranks of the British Armies under my command. 

In Paris the Stars and Stripes flew from the Hotel de Ville 
in honor of the victory ; the President of the (Municipal Council 
requested Mr. Lansing to send to all cities and towns in the 
United States the brotherly greeting of Paris; and President 
Poincare, congratulating President Wilson on the "victory of 
which the first stage has been so brilliantly accomplished," said : 

I express to the people of the United States the lively thanks of 
France. Allow me to add the expression of my deep personal esteem. 
I represented for a quarter of a century in the French Chamber 
the region now delivered. None knows better how patriotic our 
people are, how attached they are to right and liberty. The great 
sister Republic may be assured of their eternal gratitude. 

Having accomplished their objective, the Americans strength- 
ened their lines and the fighting became such as was constantly 
going on along the whole front. Patrols brought in more pris- 
oners, combats were fought in the air, the lines were shelled by 
the Germans and their trenches were shelled in return ; quanti- 
ties of gas were sent over by the enemy ; here and there a raid 
was repulsed by the Ajnericans. Metz was bombarded by long 
range guns, and the Germans, as they had so often done before, 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE las 

threw high explosives round about a clearing hospital and 
finally struck a large tent and killed eight of our men who had 
been gassed. During two weeks, however, no advance was 
attempted. 

At this stage of the struggle the Allies took the offensive in 
Macedonia. Their line then extended some 350 miles from 
the Adriatic on the west to the -^gean on the east. IlTorth of it 
lay mountains and hills easy to defend, and not to be penetrated 
save by the narrow valleys of the rivers Struma, Vardar and 
Cerna. The Cerna was chosen and September 15 the attack 
was begun by French and Serbian troops who fought their way 
down the valley and having taken Prilep went on to the junc- 
tion of the Cerna and the Yardar, crossed that river and cut off 
communication between the Bulgarian First Army based on 
Strumnitza and the Second Army and its German allies based 
on Prilep. Ishtip fell September 25 and on the following day 
the British and Greek forces, moving along the valley of the 
Vardar, captured Strumnitza. That same day Italian, French 
and Greek troops entered Kichevo, and the Bulgarians asked a 
suspension of hostilities. The terms of the Allies were accepted, 
the armistice was signed at Saloniki on the night of September 
29, and at noon on the thirtieth hostilities ceased. Bulgaria was 
out of the war. 

On Germany and Austria the effect was most depressing. 
But far more depressing still was the steady advance of the 
Allies on the western front. The Belgians, aided by the Brit- 
ish, on September 28 attacked the German lines between Dix- 
mude and Ypres, made an advance of two miles, and by Octo- 
ber 1 had taken Dixmude and advanced their front from l^ieu- 
port to the outskirts of Roulers, to the Lys River, and on to 
Armentiers. The British and French were then in the outskirts 
of Cambrai and St. Quentin, and gains had been made north- 
west of Rheims. In this fighting our men again won distinc- 
tion. 

The 30th Division, composed of I^ational Guard troops of 
North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, and drafted 



124 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

men from Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Korth. Dakota, 
!N"ortli Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, landed in 
France in May, 1918, and before its training period ended was 
sent to the Tpres Sector to support the 2d British Corps, Second 
Army. July 4 it marched into Belgium to support two British 
Divisions, and in August took over the Canal Sector, extending 
from the outskirts of Ypres to near Voormezeele. August 31 
to September 1, with the British on its left and the 27th Ameri- 
can Division on its right, it took part in an offensive and cap- 
tured Lock 'No, 8, and the city of Voormezeele. 

The 2Yth Division, New York ISTational Guard, landed in 
France in June, 1918, was assigned to the British Second 
Army, was stationed in Belgium in the Ypres and Mont Kem- 
mel salient, and from July 8 to August 20 held the East Pope- 
ringhe line behind Dickebusch Lake. August 21 it was moved 
up to the front line of the sector, and during the offensive of 
August 31-September 2, captured Vierstraat Ridge, Rosignoll 
Wood, Petite Bois and Plateau Farm. This done it went back 
to a rest area for intensive training. 

Before the month ended the 27th was again at the front with 
the 30th Division on its right and facing it the St. Quentin 
tunnel and the famous Hindenburg Line of defenses. As de- 
scribed by Lieutenant Colonel Kincaid, this line "consisted of 
three deep trenches with concrete firing steps, each trench pro- 
tected by a belt of barbed wire entanglements twenty to thirty 
feet in width. The first belt of wire might be cut, but there 
was another beyond, and still another beyond that. These 
trenches were as strong as human ingenuity and human power 
and human labor could make them. Behind them, acting as a 
great warehouse for fresh troops and a haven for exhausted 
ones, lay the famous St. Quentin Canal tunnel built by Na- 
poleon in 1811. It was 5.7 kilometers long (about 6,000 yards 
in our measurement), dug straight through a hill, and con- 
structed of arched brick walls with a broad towpath running 
along the side. The Boche had filled the canal within the tunnel 
with canal boats in which men were quartered, and had sealed 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 125 

botk ends with ferro-concrete walls four feet thick. The tunnel 
lay from ten to fifty meters under ground. Access to the fight- 
ing lines was had through passages and galleries cut from the 
tunnel to the trenches." * 

In front of the Hindenburg Line were three outpost positions 
known as the Knoll, Guillemont Farm and Quennemont Farm. 
Against these outposts men of the 2Yth Division (106th Regi- 
ment) advanced in the face of machine gun fire on the morning 
of September 27. The fighting was desperate. The Knoll 
changed hands four times, but when night came Guillemont 
Farm and Queimemont Farm, and all but a small part of the 
Knoll were in our hands. On the 29th the attack on the Hin- 
denburg Line was made. Preceded by twenty-six of the heaviest 
British tanks, two regiments, the 107th and the 108th, went 
forward ; but within two hours ground mines and anti-tank guns 
wrecked all the tanks save one, which returned badly damaged. 
Despite this disaster the men of the 108th pushed on, broke 
through the Hindenburg Line and held their ground. To their 
right the 107th, meantime, tore its way through the belts of 
barbed wire to attack the tunnel. But as it went forward, con- 
quering one area after another, the Germans, armed with- 
machine guns and grenades, came through the underground" 
passages connecting with the tunnel and attacked our troops in 
the rear, and opened a fire on their left flank from Vendhuille. 
The 105th regiment was then sent to aid the 107th, and these 
two, after desperate fighting and in spite of heavy odds, reached 
the line and forced the Germans out of the tunnel. Men from 
the 30th Division by this time had driven the Germans before 
them and captured Bellicourt, ISToroy, Riqueval, Carriere, 
Etricour and Ferme, and had advanced nearly two and a half 
miles. 

October 1 both divisions were withdrawn ; but four days later 
the 30th was back in the front, and in four days of continuous 
fighting captured a score of towns and villages and advanced 
nearly ten miles. October 11 the Division was relieved by the 

*New York Times Magazine Section, March 9, 1919. 



126 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

27tli, but was again at the front on the 16th, taking over a part 
of the sector held by the 27th Division near St, Souplet on the 
Selle River. October 17 the two Divisions forced a passage of 
the river, climbed the slippery banks on the further side, and 
by the 19th had driven the enemy back to near Catillon. 

When the Argonne-Meuse advances had reached Landres-et- 
St. George, and Aincreville, October 18, the 37th and 91st 
Divisions were withdrawn from the front and hastily sent to 
help the French Army in Belgium. Detraining near Ypres 
they moved to the Lys River, were attached to the French Army 
and placed at the disposal of the King of the Belgians. On the 
night of October 29th the 37th Division crossed the Lys, occu- 
pied a line along the Ghent-Courtrai railroad in front of Olsene, 
and early on the morning of October 31 attacked the Germans 
and drove them to the Cruyshautem Ridge, half way between 
Lys and Escaut or Scheldt Rivers. There the enemy made a 
stand, but was again attacked, routed and driven across the 
Escaut. Preparations were at once made to force a crossing 
and attack the Germans on the other side. ^November 2 the 
attempt was made, and despite machine gun bullets and shrap- 
nel a bridge was completed by nightfall. All day long !Novem- 
ber 3 the fighting went on more desperately than before, but 
by dark nine companies of infantry and four machine gun com- 
panies had crossed and established a bridgehead, and there they 
remained until relieved by the French November 5. Meantime 
the 91st Division captured Spitals Bosschen, a wood extending 
across its sector, reached the Escaut and entered the town of 
Audenarde. 

In the 37th and 01st Divisions [said General Degoutte in a gen- 
eral order] I found the same spirit of duty, and the willing sub- 
mission to discipline which makes gallant soldiers and viciorious 
armies. 

The enemy was to hold the heights between the Lys and the 
Escaut "to the death." American troops, of these divisions, acting 
in concert with the French Divisions of the group of Armies in 
Flanders, broke through the enemy on the Slat of October, 1918, 
and after severe fighting threw him on the Escaut. 




Meuse-Argonne 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 129 

Then, attempting an operation of war of unheard of audacity, the 
American units crossed the overflooded Escaut under fire of the 
enemy and maintained themselves on the opposite bank of the river 
in spite of his counter-attacks. 

Glory to such troops and their chief! They have valiantly con- 
tributed to the liberation of a part of Belgian territory and to 
final victory. 

From October 2 to 9 the 2(i Division fouglit with the French 
against the Germans in their old position before Rheims, broke 
down the defense works on their front, attacked the strongly- 
held wooded hill of Blanc Mont, captured it on the second as- 
sault and swept "over it with consummate dash and skill," said 
General Pershing. "This division then repulsed strong counter- 
attacks before the village and cemetery of St. Etienne and took 
the town, forcing the Germans to fall back from before Rheims 
and yield positions they had held since September, 1914." 

Reduction of the Chateau-Thierry salient, the Montdidier 
salient, the St. Mihiel salient, left nothing for the Allied armies 
to do but begin a frontal attack along the whole battle front. 
The part assigned the American First Army was to take over 
a sector northwest of Verdun, stretching from the Forest of 
Argonne to the river Meuse. Behind this line was the Lon- 
gouyon-Sedan railway, over which passed the greater part of 
the supplies for the German armies on the western front. There 
also were the Briey iron mines, then used by the Germans and 
which contained more than half the iron ore in Europe. To 
cut this railway, and deprive the Germans of the use of the 
mines, was the task assigned the American army. That it was 
a task difficult to accomplish and would be attended by heavy 
losses was well known, for between the railway and the German 
front, concentrated on the hilltops along a strip of territory but 
twenty kilometers wide, were five lines of defense, the Hinden- 
burg Stellung, the Hagen Stellung, the Volker Stellung, the 
Kriemhilde Stellung and the Freya Stellung. The country, 
about to become the field of an ever memorable battle, was ad- 
mirably adapted for defense. The Forest of Argonne, impene- 



130 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

trable save by a few paths, seemed almost impregnable. The 
rolling hills, the patches of forest, the heights along the Meuse 
dominated from its eastern bank were well suited for defense 
and were well defended by every means known to modern war- 
fare — trenches, great and small, barbed wire entanglements, 
"pill boxes," dugouts and thousands of machine guns behind 
rocks, in trees, in holes. 

To this front the army was accordingly moved from St. 
Mihiel, and on the night of September 25 the line from La 
Harazee in the Forest of Argonne to the Meuse, near Forges, 
was quietly taken over. 

On the right from the Meuse to Malancourt was the 3d 
Corps, composed of the 33d, 80th and 4th Divisions in line, 
and the 3d Division as Corps reserve. The 5th Corps from 
Malancourt to Yauquois consisted of the Y9th, 37th and 91st 
Divisions in line, and the 32d as Corps reserve. From. Vau- 
quois to Yienne-le-Chateau was the 1st Corps, composed of the 
35th, 28th and 77th Divisions in line, and the 92d as Corps 
reserve. The 1st, 29th and 82d Divisions formed the Army 
reserve. On the left from the Forest of Argonne to the Suippe 
was the French 4th Army. On the right bank of the Meuse 
was the I7th French Corps. East of the Argonne the Amer- 
ican Army was to drive a deep salient into the German line, 
while the French drove another to the west and so pinch out 
the Germans, for it was asserted that the Forest could not be 
cleared by direct attack. The first objective of our army was 
a line from the forest to Apremont, Exermont, Romagne, and 
Brieulles. 

It was past eleven o'clock on the night of September 25th 
when the Americans began a heavy artillery fire ; half past two 
in the morning of the 26th when the guns along the twenty-mile 
front opened with drum fire, and half past five o'clock when 
the infantry went over the top, and with true American dash 
attacked the first defenses of the Hindenburg Line. On the- 
right and the left the advance went steadily forward, but in the 
center it was checked by the stubborn defense of Montfaucon, 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 131 

which rose before the troops as did Montsec in the St. Mihiel 
sector. By nightfall the 35th Division had not reached Char- 
pentry but had passed Very, the 37th had not reached Ivoiry, 
and the T9th was stopped in front of Montfancon. Early on 
the 2Yth the attack was resumed, Ivoiry taken, and the enemy 
driven from Montfaucon. It had long been supposed to be 
untakable and from a tower on its summit the Crown Prince 
had watched the operations against Verdun. This tower, which 
now fell into American hands, was a telescopic pole eighty feet 
long when extended and twelve feet when folded. On one side 
was a seat where the Crown Prince sat to observe with field 
glasses. That observations might be made from the ground, 
there was a periscope consisting of an objective piece at the 
top of the pole and at the bottom a telescope with three eye 
pieces. Tower and hoisting apparatus were mounted on a gun 
carriage. 

When night came our men had entered the German lines to a 
depth of seven miles, and held 8,000 prisoners and twelve vil- 
lages. Along their front the Prench also had been victorious, 
and by the close of the second day had captured some 10,000 
prisoners, and advanced at some points five miles. 

On the 27th the fighting was of great intensity. 'New divi- 
sions were brought up by the enemy for counter-attacks, and 
reenforcements were hun-ied forward to stop our advance. 
Work with the tanks was hampered by pitfalls dug in the roads 
and covered with a few inches of earth, into which the tanks 
fell; by stone walls built across the roads at intervals, and 
across streets in the little villages, and by masonry which rose 
several feet above the ground. Trenches, large and small, 
ditches and barbed wire entanglements in amazing quantity, 
hindered the advance of the infantry ; yet gains were made, and 
at the ejid of the third day the center of the army, despite 
masonry, pitfalls, barbed wire, machine guns and gas, had 
reached Apremont, Exermont, Cierges. 

During September 29 and 30 and October 1 the battle front 
went backward and forward with small gains to either side, and 



132 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

at the end of the third day remained much where it was on the 
first. Against the Americans were concentrated division after 
division of the best German troops. Three Prussian Guard 
divisions, the flower of the enemy army, were fighting our boys 
who, but a few months before, had been called from civil life. 
October 2, as the 7Yth Division drove through the Argonne 
Forest, the first battalion of the 308th Infantry, a company of 
the 307th, and some members of the 306th Machine Gun Com- 
pany, six in all, under command of Major Charles S. Whittle- 
sey, pushed through a gap in the German trenches, advanced to 
a ravine at Charlevaux Mill and were cut off in the heart of the 
forest. During five days without food, surrounded by the enemy 
firing on them from all sides, they held their ground until 
rescued on the night of October 7. The next day two hundred 
and fifty-two survivors of the six hundred and seventy-nine who 
entered the ravine went back to a rest area to find that they had 
become famous as the ''Lost Battalion." 

Meantime the French had advanced west of the forest, and 
the Germans in the woods were in a pocket from which they 
must retreat. October 3 the French smashed their way through 
defenses composed of trenches and barbed wire five miles deep, 
drove the enemy out of Challerange, advanced to the edge of 
Mouron, and occupied the crest of the valley known as Croix des 
Soudans, overlooking the valley of the Aisne. October 4 our 
line ran from Brieulles-sur-Meuse through Gesnes and Fleville 
to a point north of Binarville. This ended the first phase of 
the battle with the army ahead of the first objective in the for- 
est, but short of it east of the Aire. Along the line on the 
morning of October 4 our men drove the enemy to a line two 
kilometers north of Binarville and Gesnes, and at nightfall were 
astride the Kriemhilde Line near Brieulles. Fighting on the 
5th and 6th was the fiercest our army had as yet encountered. 
On one stretch of the battle front, it was reported, the Germans 
had five machine guns to the yard, and at another the artillery 
was grouped in a zone two miles deep. The forest was full of 
steel and concrete pill boxes, of trenches running in every direc- 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 133 

tion and of macliine gun nests. Nevertheless the Germans were 
driven from Chatel and Chehery, and from commanding hills 
west of the Aisne, in hand-to-hand fighting. Octoher 9 the 
Kriemhilde Line was broken between Cunel and Romagne, and 
the French line joined at Lancon. 

As our troops pushed northward along the west bank of the 
Meuse they suffered much from machine gun and artillery fire 
turned on them by the Germans on the east bank. It became 
necessary, therefore, to push forward the line east of the Meuse, 
a line held by the lYth French Corps, to which the 29th Ameri- 
can Division had been assigned as a unit. Beginning at the 
river and going eastward the Divisions were 29th American, 
and 18th and 26th French. Along the west bank of the Meuse 
from Regneville northward was the 33d American Division, 
and this on October 6 was also transferred to the 17th French 
Corps. October 8 the advance began, and while the troops east 
of the river drove the enemy northward, engineers from the 33d 
Division, despite constant artillery fire, built two bridges, one 
at Brabant-sur-Meuse, and one at Consenvoye. Several bat- 
talions crossed, and by night the line ran from north of Con- 
senvoye to Beaumont. October 9 tlie line was pushed to the 
outskirts of Sivry. West of the river from the Argonne to the 
Meuse our troops had now reached the Kriemhilde Stellung, a 
system of defense some two and a half miles in depth, and 
running over the hills around Sommerance, Romagne, Cunel 
Bantheville and Landres-et-St. Georges. If this line were 
broken nothing could prevent the cutting of the four-track rail- 
road from Carigan to Mezieres, over which passed the supplies, 
munitions, men, the life blood of the German armies in France. 
General von der Marwitz therefore determined to hold the line 
at all costs, and the next twenty days were passed in a desperate 
effort by the American Army to break through. October 11 all 
the Argonne Forest was in American hands, and on the 16th 
Grand Pre was taken by our troops. At six o'clock in the morn- 
ing, without artillery preparation, without attracting the atten- 
tion of the enemy in any way, men of the Y7th Division moved 



134 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

forward through the woods, waded across the Aire River at 
four places, struggled across a mud flat and coming suddenly 
upon the Germans drove them into the woods north of Grand 
Pre and held the town. There again the resistance of the Ger- 
mans stiffened, and October 23 they were back in Grand Pre, 
but were driven out, and Champigneulle was taken and lost. 

Captured orders showed they were to hald back the Ameri- 
cans at all costs, and in their efforts to do so division after 
division was brought forward. Since the drive began twenty 
German divisions had been so cut to pieces that replacement 
was necessary, and some thirty were concentrated to stop the 
advance. It could not be stopped and October 23 the fighting 
was north of Bantheville, which had several times changed 
hands in the course of a few days, and the enemy had been 
driven from Brieulles. The month closed with Aincreville in 
possession of the Americans, and the second phase of the long 
and desperate battle of Argonne ended, with our men on the 
southern edges of the Bois des Logos. 

^November 1 was a day long to be remembered. The enemy 
was forced back past Imecourt and Bayonville ; Andevanne was 
stormed; the Bois des Logos was nearly cleared, the outskirts 
of Yillers-devant-Dun were reached, and a dozen villages and 
some 3,000 prisoners captured. ISTovember 2 the newly con- 
structed Freya Stellung was broken through at Bayonville, 
Champigneulle and Briquency taken, Buzancy stormed, and 
Posse, Tailly, Villers-Devant-Dun and Doulcon captured. So 
rapidly did the enemy retreat that in the early afternoon all 
contact with him was lost and a hurry call was made for trucks 
with which to give chase. "We are moving infantry in trucks 
after the retreating enemy, but have not overtaken him," said 
an official report. 

A great wedge with Fosse at the peak was thus driven into 
the enemy front. November 3 the western side of the wedge 
was straightened out, and the line carried past Authe, St. 
Pierremont, Sommauthe, Vaux-en-Dieulet, and to beyond 
Sassey-sur-Meuse. 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 135 

On the evening of N'ovember 3 the 2d Division was near 
Vaux-en-Dieulet. That night two infantry regiments, the 9 th 
and 23d, formed in column on the road leading to Beaumont, 
and, with no other protection than the usual advance guard 
and flank patrols, marched all night through the enemy's lines 
for a distance of some eight kilometers. Details of German 
troops passing along the road were met and captured, machine 
gunners asleep at their guns were made prisoners, as were some 
officers found sitting around tables in a farm house. 

^November 4 our army swept through the woods of Dieulet, 
and driving along the west bank of the Meuse took Laneuville, 
pushed on to the outskirts of Letanne and carried their front 
northward and westward through Beaumont and la Berliere to 
near Tannay. In the dark hours of the morning of November 
5th the Meuse was crossed near Brieulles and later near Clery 
le Petit. On the following day Dun, Milly, Lion, Fontaines 
were taken, and by the 11th the front was driven eastward 
beyond Ghaumont, Damvillers, Jametz, Eemoiville and Stenay. 
Meantime west of the Meuse the Americans day by day went 
irresistibly onward, and on the afternoon of N^ovember 7 
patrols of the 42 Division entered Wadelincourt, opposite 
Sedan. The army had fought its way for twenty-five miles 
from its line of departure, had day after day beaten back the 
best troops Germany could produce, had reached the goal for 
which it set out, had cut the enemy's main line of communica- 
tion and left him nothing but an armistice or surrender. 'No 
better fighting was ever done by any army than by our boys on 
their way to Sedan. Forty-six enemy divisions had been used 
against them, and all in vain. They had taken 44,000 prison- 
ers and 1,400 guns, howitzers and truck mortars. 

It was now the plan of General Pershing to send the First 
Army in the direction of Longwy, while the Second Army, 
organized October 10th, and sent to occupy a sector in the 
Woevre, moved towards the coal fields of Briey. Attacks were 
accordingly ordered, and that by the Second Aj-my was under 



136 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

way when tlie armistice was signed and orders came to cease 
firing at eleven o'clock on the morning of l!Tovemher 11th. 

We had then in France 1,338,169 combat troops. Including 
these, the regiment in Italy, the men at Murmonsk and those 
on their way to Europe, the total number sent from our country 
to fight, and to help those who fought, was 2,075,834. 

As the French and British along the western front drove back 
the Germans and recovered cities, towns and villages, they found 
such evidence of German brutality as astonished them even after 
four years of experience. 

To those who entered St. Quentin, after the Germans with- 
drew, it presented the appearance of a dead and ruined city. 
Of all its former inhabitants not a man, woman or child re- 
mained. Here and there it had been damaged by shell fire and 
here and there wrecked by the Germans for unknown reasons. 
In the houses and shops not an article of the smallest value 
remained. Everything movable had been carried away. They 
had been stripped clear, "to the plaster on the walls and the 
boards on the floor," said one who wandered through its streets. 

Elsewhere, as the Germans fell back, every town, village and 
countryside had been burned, sacked, destroyed and systemati- 
cally laid waste. Angered and aroused by this long series of 
wanton outrages, without any military excuse, the French Gov- 
ernment publicly protested and threatened reprisals. 

The German Government has never ceased to proclaim that should 
it ever be obliged to abandon the French territories it has occupied, 
it will leave behind it only land completely devastated and desolated. 
This savage threat has been carried into effect with methodical 
ferocity on the occasion of every enemy withdrawal. Compelled now 
to retire continuously under the unrelaxing pressure of the Allies, 
the German armies, in revenge for their invariable defeats, are 
wreaking their fury more cruelly than ever on the people, on their 
towns, on the soil itself. 

Nothing is spared to the unfortunate inhabitants of our provinces. 
Tom brutally from their homes and their homesteads, deported in 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 137 

crowds, driven like herds of cattle before the retreating German 
armies, they see behind them their houses and factories pillaged and 
demolished, their schools and hospitals in flames, their churches 
blown up with dynamite, their gardens and plantations utterly laid 
waste. They meet with villages mined and roads sown with diabolical 
machines scientifically timed to explode and cause the maximum of 
murder among the refugees returning to their hearths and homes. 
To all these horrors is now added the bombing of hospitals and the 
cynical slaughter of the wounded. 

In view of these systematic violations of Eight and Humanity, the 
French Government is under the imperious necessity of addressing a 
solemn warning to Germany and the States which assist in this 
monstrous work of ravage and devastation. Conduct which is equally 
contrary to international law and the fundamental principles of all 
human civilization will not go unpunished. The German people, 
who are accomplices in these crimes, will have to bear the con- 
sequences. The authors and directors of these crimes will be held 
responsible morally, judicially and financially. They will seek in vain 
to escape the inexorable expiation which awaits them. The account 
with them is opened and will have to be settled, France is now in 
communication with her Allies as to the decisions that may be 
come to. 

The Allgemeine Tiroler Anzeiger on September 9, 1918, published 
the following order issued by the military authorities at Innsbruck: 
"Every effort must be made to prevent enemy aircraft which have 
landed from restarting. Notification should immediately be tele* 
graphed of such enemy aircraft the moment they land. In order 
that all troops, the local gendarmerie, and the civil population may 
cooperate efficiently, the military authority notified at the same time 
the Governors of Innsbruck and Linz, the Provincial Governor of 
Salzburg, and the provincial commandants of gendarmerie in addition 
that the dropping of manifestoes and proclamations by enemy airmen 
constitutes a crime against the State, and that every airman who 
drops such manifestoes, or who merely carries them with him, 
places himself by the mere fact outside international law, and will 
be held guilty of a crime punishable with death." 

The Government of the French Republic hereby gives notice to 
the Austro-Hungarian Government that if measures so contrary to 
the most elementary laws of humanity should be carried into execu- 
tion against French airmen, the French authorities will make 
reprisals which will apply the same penalty to double the number 
of Austrian officers who may fall into their hands. 



1138 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

The Frectich N"ational Committee for the Reparation of Dam- 
ages Caused bj the War made a vigorous protest. 

The attention of the National Committee for the Entire Repara- 
tion of Damages Caused by the War has been called upon to deter- 
mine devastations, plunder, war tax levies, taxes created without 
military necessity, in invaded regions, and which, despite the repro- 
bation and the feeling of horror caused by such deeds aU the world 
over, have been increasing more and more. 

These odious proceedings, reviving long forgotten historical scenes, 
are contrary to the usages of war, as the Germans themselves dare to 
qualify their military operations which change hostilities into an 
abominable robbery, meaning to bring about, above all, the industrial 
and commercial ruin of the invaded country, ought not to remain 
unpunished. And this punishment of crimes and murders patiently 
premeditated, carefully prepared, and coolly and cruelly accom- 
plished, cannot be inferior to their monstrous character. 

The ancient law of retaliation, however repugnant it is to the 
nations fighting for the triumph of justice and liberty, is the only 
one fit, in the circumstances, to be invoked against a nation that 
has willfully and deliberately put itself outside of civilization and 
finds itself in a state of systematic retrogression. 

The National Committee, on behalf of the interests intrusted to 
their care, invite all Goverimaents whose peoples participate in this 
new crusade to announce their formal resolve to make use of a 
modernized retaliation law, according to the barbarians' own wish, 
town for town, village for village, church for church, castle for 
castle, property for property. Such is the only formula likely to 
make an impression on minds and hearts closed to all feeling except 
that which may arise from fear of punishment. 

Even our own government was forced to protest and address 
a note to Germany through the Swiss Minister at Washington. 

I have the honor [said Secretary Lansing] to request that you 
will bring the following to the attention of the German Government : 

In its note of Oct. 20th the German Government announced that 
"the German troops are under the strictest instructions to spare 
private property and to exercise care for the population to the best 
of their ability." 

Information has now reached the Government of the United States 
to the effect that the German authorities in Belgium have given voice 
to the coal mining companies that all men and animals should be 



FIGHTING IN FRANCE 1S9 

brought out of the pits; that all raw materials in the possession of 
the companies should be delivered to the Germans, and that the 
mines will be destroyed at once. 

Acts so wanton and malicious, involving as they do the destruction 
of a vital necessity to the civilian population of Belgium and the 
consequent suffering and loss of human life which will follow, cannot 
fail to impress the Government and the people of the United States 
as willfully cruel and inhuman. If these acts, in flagrant violation of 
the declaration of Oct. 20, are perpetrated, it will confirm the belief 
that the solemn assurances of the German Government are not given 
in good faith. 

In the circumstances the Government of the United States, to 
which the declaration of Oct. 20 was made, enters an emphatic pro- 
test against the measures contemplated by the German authorities 
for whose conduct the Government of Germany is wholly responsible. 

As the week closed, October 5, reports from the western front 
set forth that flames were shooting up from Douai; that the 
torch had been applied in village after village in the country 
east of Douai and Cambrai ; that flames in Roulers were plainly- 
visible; that towns along the Belgian coast were burning, and 
that great anxiety was felt for the fate of Lille, which the 
Germans were hastily evacuating. 

Everywhere along the front the week had been one of tri- 
umph. Each of the nine armies of the Allies, the Belgian, the 
four British, the three Erencli and the American, had been 
victorious. Truly enough did the Frankfort Zeitung say: 

The Allied plan of attack is being carried out in an extraordinary 
manner. It is an awful strain on our front. The situation on the 
Meuse, where American attacks are just beginning, is extremely 
critical. Part of the Chemin des Dames has been given up, and 
the whole German front is gradually cnunbling away under the 
Allied attack. 

Another week brought no diminution of the crumbling away. 
Cambrai was taken by the British; Anglo-American troops 
drove a wedge as far eastward as Solesmes; the French along 
the Aisne forced back the German front past Berry-au-Bec, and 
Rheims, at last, was out of reach of German guns. By Satur- 



140 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

day, October 19tli, the retreat of the Germans in Flanders had 
almost become a rout, Ostend and Zeebrugge had been taken, 
the King and Queen of the Belgians had entered Ostend and 
Bruges, the French were within fifteen miles of Ghent, and 
Thielt and Roulers and Courtrai were captured. Between the 
Lys and the Scarpe the front was forced well to the west of 
Tourcoing, Roubaix, Lille and Douai. Between the Scarpe and 
the Oise southwest of Cambrai where Americans fought beside 
the British, Le Cateau and Wassigny were occupied and the 
enemy forced across the Oise River. La Fere was taken and 
Laon. 

Along the Italian front for some weeks past no fighting of 
serious importance had occurred. On the night of October 23- 
24, however, vigorous attacks were made by the Italian army, 
in the Monte Grappa sector, and by British forces on an island 
in the Piave, and some 3,000 prisoners taken. This was the 
beginning of a great drive by the Italian, British, French and 
American forces before which the Austrian army crumbled 
away, and when the month ended the Piave had been crossed, 
the defeat of the Austrians had become a rout, Belluno had 
been reached and passed and the Austrian army divided. As 
the Allies drew near the Tagliamento General Diaz delivered to 
the Austrian commander-in-chief the Allies' terms for an armis- 
tice. By November 3d patrols had crossed the Tagliamento, 
tJdine had been entered, Trent had been occupied ; and land and 
naval forces held Trieste. Sunday, ]!^ovember 3d, the armistice 
was signed and went into effect at three o'clock on Monday 
afternoon, ^November 4th. 



CHAPTER IV 

PEACE OFFENSIVES 

During the month of June, 1918, the German armies had 
almost reached the point of their extreme advance. 'None of 
the objectives had been attained. No wedge had been driven 
between the French and the British. The Channel ports had 
not been captured. Paris was still in French hands. Viewed 
from the standpoint of the German people the advance had been 
a series of victories crushing to their foe. Germany was still 
triumphant. But to the rulers of Germany the situation was 
serious indeed. The arrival, week after week, of thousands of 
Americans ; the knowledge that several millions more were ready 
and would come ; the fighting qualities shown by the American 
soldier at Cantigny, at Chateau-Thierry, at Belleau Wood, 
wherever they had fought, gave to the high command no com- 
fortable assurances for the future. Clearly the time had come 
for another peace offensive. No surprise therefore was ex- 
pressed by the Allies when, on June 24, in the Reichstag, von 
Kiihlmann reopened the peace discussion. 

He considered it necessary to say quite simply and in a way 
easy for all to understand "what our positive desires are." 

We wish for the German people and our Allies, a free, strong, 
independent existence within the boundaries drawn for us by history. 
We desire overseas possessions corresponding to our greatness and 
wealth; the freedom of the seas, carrying our trade to all parts 
of the world. 

Once the moment arrived [when the nations then locked in battle 
should exchange peace views] , one of the preliminary conditions must 
be certain degrees of mutual confidence in each other's honesty and 
chivalry. For so long as every overture is regarded by others as a 
peace offensive, as a trap or as something false for the purpose of 

141 



142 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

sowing disunion between allies; so long as every attempt at a 
rapprochement is at once violently denounced by the enemies of a 
rapprochement in the various countries, so long will it be impossible 
to see how any exchange of ideas leading to peace can be begun. 

In view of the magnitude of this war and the number of Powers, 
including those from overseas, that are engaged, its end can hardly 
be expected through purely military decisions alone and without 
recourse to diplomatic negotiations. 

Our position on the battlefields, our enormous military resources, 
the situation and the determination at home permit us to use such 
language. We hope our enemies perceive that in view of our re- 
sources the idea of victory for the Entente is a dream. 

I do not believe that any responsible man in Germany, not even 
the Kaiser or the members of the Imperial Government, ever for a 
moment believed they could win the domination in Europe by start- 
ing this war. The idea of world domination in Europe is a Utopia, 
as proved by Napoleon. The nation which tried it would, as happened 
in France, bleed to death in useless battle and would be most griev- 
ously injured and lowered in her development. One may here apply 
Von Moltke's phrase, "Woe to him who sets Europe afire." 

At no moment of our later history was there less occasion for us 
to start, or to contribute to the starting of, a conflagration than the 
moment in which it occurred. In a former debate I pointed out that 
the absolute integrity of the German Empire and its allies formed 
the necessary prerequisite condition for entering into a peace dis- 
cussion or negotiations. That is our position to-day. 

From England the reproach is constantly made that we are not 
prepared on a hint from England to state our attitude publicly on 
the Belgian question. On this point the fundamental views of the 
Imperial Government differ from those ascribed to us by English 
statesmen. We regard Belgium as one question in the entire com- 
plex. We must, however, decline to make, as it were, a prior con- 
cession by giving a statement on the Belgian question which would 
bind us, without the least binding the enemy. 

I believe that one can say without fear of contradiction, as the 
result of revelations, that the deeper we go into the causes of this 
war, the clearer it becomes that the Power which planned and 
desired the war was Russia; that France played the next worst role 
as instigator and that England's policy has very dark pages to show. 

England's attitude before the outbreak of the war was bound to 
strengthen Russia's desire for war. Of this there are proofs enough 
in the documents already published. 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 143 

On the other hand, Germany did not for an instant believe that 
this war could lead to the domination of Europe, much less to the 
domination of the world. On the contrary, the German policy before 
the war showed good prospects of being able satisfactorily to realize 
its essential aims, namely, the settlement of affairs in the East 
and colonial problems by peaceful negotiations. 

The remainder of the speech was an attempt to justify the 
action of Germany in Russia, in Finland, Courland, Lithuania, 
Poland, Bulgaria, and the advance of Turkey in the Caucasus. 

That part of the speech in which he said the end of the war 
"can hardly be expected through purely military decisions alone 
and without recourse to diplomatic negotiations" ; that part in 
which he asserted that Russia was the Power that planned and 
started the war, and that "the idea of world domination in 
Europe is a Utopia" were received by the Reichstag with 
marked disapproval. In the course of the debate which fol- 
lowed one member feared that "abroad they will consider it as a 
new peace offensive." Another declared it would have a most 
depressing effect; that not negotiations but hammer Mows 
brought peace in the East. The Chancellor, Count von Hert- 
ling, said he "originally had no intention of taking part in this 
debate," because of the experience of his predecessor and him- 
self. 

If we spoke of our willingness for peace, it was regarded as a 
symptom of weakness and our impending collapse. By others it was 
interpreted as a crafty trap. Did we speak, on the other hand, of 
our unshakable will to defend ourselves in a war of conquest so 
criminally thrust upon us, it was said that it was the voice of German 
militarism to which even the leading statesmen must submit willy- 
nilly. 

I went a step further, on February 24, and expressed my attitude 
toward the message of President Wilson in which he discussed his 
four points and gave, in principle, my assent to them. I said that 
these four points of President Wilson might possibly form the basis 
of a general world peace. No utterance of President Wilson what- 
ever followed this, so that there is no object in spinning any further 
the threads they started. 

There is still less object after statements which have since reached 



144 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

us, especially from America. These statements, indeed, made it 
really clear what is to be understood by a peace league of peoples, or 
a league of peoples, for the maintenance of freedom and justice. Our 
opponents made it clear what would be the kernel of this league of 
people, that it would not be difficult to isolate the uncomfortable up- 
ward strivings of Germany and by economic strangulation to ex- 
tinguish her vital breath. I considered it, as against this, quite 
proper that the Foreign Secretary make a statement on the details of 
our political position in the East from Finland to the Black Sea, 
and in my opinion he carried out the task thoroughly. On the other 
hand, some of his statements got a more or less unfriendly reception 
in wide circles, 

I feel obliged to clear away a misunderstanding which, it seems, 
was caused by the interpretation of the second part of the Foreign 
Secretary's statement. The tendency of these utterances of the 
Foreign Secretary was purely to ascribe the responsibility for the 
continuation and immeasurable prolongation of this terrible war 
to the enemy Powers entirely in the sense I had indicated on 
February 24, for it goes without saying there can be no question of 
lessening our energetic defense or our will, or of shaking our con- 
fidence in victory. 

Stormy applause followed tliis utterance by the Chancellor. 
To the pan-Germanists the speech of von Kiihlmann was espe- 
cially offensive, and July 9 he resigned. On the following day 
Count von Hertling formally announced to the Reichstag that 
Admiral von Hintze would succeed von Kiihlmann, and again 
reviewed the war aims and policy of Germany. 

I maintain the standpoint of the imperial reply to the peace note 
of Pope Benedict. The pacific spirit which inspired this reply has 
also inspired me. At the time, however, I added that this spirit must 
not give our enemies free conduct for an interminable continuation 
of the war. What have we lived to see, however? While for years 
there can have been no doubt whatever of our willingness to hold 
out our hand toward an honorable peace, we have heard until these 
last few days inciting speeches delivered by enemy statesmen. Presi- 
dent Wilson wants war until we are destroyed, and what Mr. Balfour, 
the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, has said must 
really drive the flush of anger to the cheeks of every German. 

We feel for the honor of our Fatherland and we cannot allow our- 
selves to be constantly and openly insulted in this manner, and 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 145 

behind these insults is the desire for our destruction. As long as 
this desire for our destruction exists we must endure together with 
our faithful nation. I am also convinced, I know it, that in the 
widest circles of our nation the same serious feeling exists every- 
where. As long as the desire for our destruction exists we must 
hold out, and we will hold out, with confidence in our troops, in our 
army administration and in our magnificent nation which bears so 
wonderfully these difficult times, with their great privations and 
continuous sacrifices. 

In the direction of our policy nothing will be changed. If, in 
spite of these hostile statements by these statesmen, any serious 
efforts for a paving of the way to peace were to show themselves 
anywhere, then, quite certainly, we would not adopt a negative atti- 
tude from the very beginning, but we would examine these seriously 
meant, — I say expressly seriously meant — efforts immediately, with 
scrupulous care. 

This was not only his position but emphatically that of the Chief 
of the Army Administration, who does not conduct war for the sake 
of war, but has said to me that as soon as a serious desire for peace 
manifests itself on the other side we must follow it up. 

Some remarks of the Chancellor which related to Belgium 
were not given to the press; but, on the following day, an 
official statement was issued at Berlin : 

With regard to the statements made to-day (July 12) by the 
Imperial Chancellor in the Main Committee of the Keichstag, re- 
garding Belgium, a view has spread among the public which may give 
rise to misunderstandings. We are therefore giving in full that part 
of the Chancellor's speech. Count Hertling said : 

*'With reference to the future of Belgium, as I already said yes- 
terday, the occupation and present possession of Belgium only means 
that we have a pawn for future negotiations. By the term 'pawn' 
is meant that one does not intend to keep what one has in one's 
hand as a pawn if negotiations should bring a favorable result. We 
have no intention of keeping Belgium in any form whatever. What 
we precisely want, as already expressed by me on February 24, is, that 
after the war restored Belgium shall, as a self-dependent State, not 
be subject to anybody as a vassal and shall live with us in good and 
friendly relations. I have held this point of view from the begin- 
ning with regard to the Belgian question, and still hold it to-day. 

"Gentlemen, this side of my policy is fully in conformity with the 



146 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

general lines of direction whicli I yesterday clearly laid before you. 
We are waging war as a war of defense, as we have done from the 
very beginning, and every Imperialistic tendency, every tendency to 
world domination, has been remote from our minds. Therefore our 
peace aims will agree with what we want. That is, inviolability of 
our territory; open air for the expansion of our people, especially in 
the economic domain; and naturally, also, the necessary security in 
regard to future difficult conditions. This is completely in con- 
formity with my point of view in regard to Belgium, but how this 
point of view can be established in detail depends on future nego- 
tiations and on this point I am unable to give binding declarations." 

But this was not all lie said concerning Belgium, and a few 
days later, on demand of members of the Eeichstag, the con- 
clusion of his remarks was made public : 

With regard to the West, the Belgian question is still in the fore- 
ground. From the beginning of the war there was no intention of 
retaining Belgium for ever. As far as we are concerned, the war, as 
I said on November 39 last, was from the beginning a defensive war 
and not a war of conquest. That we marched into Belgium was a 
necesssity forced upon us. The occupation of Belgium was also a 
necessity forced on us by the war. It fully corresponds to The Hague 
regulation regarding warfare on land that we established a civil ad- 
ministration in Belgium. Similarly we introduced a German ad- 
ministration there, in all domains, and I believe this was not to the 
disadvantage of the Belgian population. Belgium, in our hands, is 
a pledge for future negotiations. This pledge in our hands means a 
pledge against certain dangers which are warded off by the retention 
in our hands of this security. This pledge is, therefore, only sur- 
rendered when these dangers are removed. Belgium, as a pledge, 
means therefore for us that we must secure ourselves by the peace 
conditions, as I have already said, against Belgium's ever becoming 
a jumping-off ground for our enemies, and not only in a military but 
also in an economic sense. We must protect ourselves against being 
strangled economically after the war. Owing to its conditions, its 
position, and its development, Belgium is completely dependent on 
Germany. If we enter into close relations with Belgium in the 
economic domain it will be also entirely to the interest of Belgium. 

If we succeed in getting into close relations with Belgium, and 
if we succeed in coming to an understanding with Belgium also with 
regard to political questions which touch Germany's vital interest?, 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 147 

then we have a definite prospect that therewith we shall have the 
best security against future dangers which might menace us from 
Belgium, and through Belgium from England and France. This 
also tallies with Herr von Kiihlmann's view. 

The Berlin Tageblatt condemned the speech, saying: 

The Chancellor is silent about war aims. If Count von Hertling 
considers Belgium is part of the peace question he must remember 
that for nobody outside of Germany is Belgium even a question for 
argument. At the beginning of the war Germany entered into very 
definite obHgations regarding Belgium, and even if these obligations 
did not exist the Belgian question for most people in the world is 
merely a plain question of right. The Chancellor's remarks about 
Russia smell of powder. After reading von Hertling's whole speech 
the uncomfortable impression is left that in view of the entire situa- 
tion a policy of waiting is deemed advisable. The Chancellor pur- 
sues no policy of large principles, but is merely an adroit oppor- 
tunist. He considers it sufficient if he again bridles the Reichstag 
majority. He will then return to main headquarters and say with a 
smile: "You see how easy it is!" 

The Frankfurter Zeitung said : 

Chancellor von Hertling's declaration regarding Belgium is a great 
step in advance. Enemy statesmen cannot interpret it, as the British- 
Foreign Secretary Balfour did the Chancellor's February speech, by 
indicating that Germany intends to make Belgium subservient to 
herself by means of commercial, territorial, and military conditions. 
There is now no obstacle on Germany's side to the ending of the war. 

The Vossische Zeitung believed : 

Chancellor von Hertling's statement on Belgium was made with a 
definiteness which always hitherto has been lacking. The Chancel- 
lor's thorough exposition of his conception of the Belgian problem 
will silence chatter about German statesmen being intentionally si- 
lent on this subject or expressing themselves with studied obscurity. 

Germania held that : 

Belgium is the most important question raised by the war, and 
with the Chancellor's clear statement regarding it the internal po- 
litical situation can now be considered as no longer strained. 



148 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

The foreign press was still commenting on von Hertling's 
speech when, July 16, Baron Burian, the Austro-Hungarian 
Foreign Minister, in an address to the Austrian and Hungarian 
Premiers on the eve of the meeting of the Reichsrat, replied to 
President Wilson's speech on the Fourth of July. 

It is not easy to draw a picture of the present world situation in 
view of the swiftly moving nature of events. Everything is in full 
swing and a repetition of what has so often been said regarding 
the causes and responsibilities for the past can no longer influence 
our judgment because, on that subject, everybody already has formed 
his own view. The consequences of the war already have grown in- 
finitely and have gone far beyond the original causes of the war. 
The present phase of events and developments, too, throw a glaring 
light on the conflicting interests of the different belligerent groups 
which clashed at the beginning of this murderous struggle, but they, 
perhaps, are not without slight signs of an internal change taking 
place in the relations of the groups. 

In the midst of the terrible struggle, and in every phase of this 
war of successful defense, the Central Powers have had no other 
aim in view but to secure the enemy's will to peace. If we sum up 
all that has been said on the enemy's side in regard to their war 
aims we recognize three groups of aspirations which are being set 
forth to justify the continuation of bloodshed so that tbe ideals of 
mankind may be realized : 

The freedom of all nations, which are to form a league of nations 
and which in future shall settle their differences by arbitration and 
not by arms, is to reign. 

The domination of one nation by another nation is to be excluded. 

Various territorial changes are to be carried out at the expense 
of the Central Powers. 

These annexationist aims, though variously shaped, are generally 
known. The intention, however, also exists, especially in regard to 
Austria-Hungary, to carry out her internal disintegration for the 
purpose of the formation of new States. Finally, our opponents de- 
mand our atonement because we dared to defend ourselves, and suc- 
cessfully, against their attacks. Our ability to defend ourselves is 
termed militarism and must, therefore, be destroyed. Territorial 
aims are, in fact, the only things now separating the different bel- 
ligerent groups. For the great interests of humanity and for the jus- 
tice, freedom, honor, and peace of the world, as set forth in the laws 
of modern political conception, regarding which we need not accept 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 149 

any advice, we also are ready to fight. There is hardly any differ- 
ence between the general principles enunciated by the statesmen 
of both belligerents. President Wilson's four new points of July 4 
shall not, apart from certain exaggerations, arouse our opposition. 
On the contrary, we are able to approve them heartily to a great 
extent. 

Nobody would refuse homage to this genius and nobody would re- 
fuse his cooperation. This, however, is not the main point, but it 
is what can also be understood in the interests of mankind. Both 
groups should certainly honestly attempt to clear this up and settle it 
by mutual agreement, but not in the same manner as, for instance, 
our peace treaties in the East were judged. 

The fact is that all our opponents were invited to join in those 
peace negotiations and they could have contributed their share in 
bringing them to a different issue. But now, when it is too late, 
their criticism stands on weak grounds, for there is no legal right 
which would have entitled them to condemn the peace conditions 
which were acceptable to the contracting parties or which could not 
be avoided. 

From the confident utterances of our opponents it appears they 
have no fear of being defeated. If they, nevertheless, represent the 
peace treaties as a warning of our treatment of a defeated enemy we 
do not consider the reproach justified. None of the belligerent States 
need ever come into the position of Russia and Rumania as we are 
ever ready to enter into peace negotiations with all our opponents. If_ 
our enemies continually demand atonement for wrong done and resti- 
tution, then this is a claim which we could urge with more justifi- 
cation against them because we have been attacked, and the wrong 
done to us must be redressed. 

The enemy's obstinacy regarding his territorial demands concern- 
ing Alsace-Lorraine, Trieste, the Trentino, and the German colonies 
appears to be insurmountable. There lies the limit of our readiness 
for peace. We are prepared to discuss everything except our own 
territory. The enemy not only wants to cut from Austria-Hungary 
what he would like for himself, but the inner structure, that of the 
monarchy itself, too, is to be attacked and the monarchy dissolved, 
if possible, into component parts. Now that it is recognized that or- 
dinary war methods have not sufficed to defeat us, interest in our 
internal affairs suddenly has become supreme. The Entente, how- 
ever, discovered its sympathy with our internal affairs so late that 
many an enemy statesman who now prates about the monarchy's 
national questions as a war aim had probably no idea of their ex- 



150 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

istence at the beginning of the war. This fact can be recognized 
from that amateurish and superficial manner in which our opponents 
discuss an attempt to solve these complicated problems. This meth- 
od, however, appears to them to be useful. They, therefore, organ- 
ized it as they have organized the blockade, and in England they now 
have a propaganda minister. 

We wish to place this attack on record without useless indignation 
or whining. The choice of this new means of fighting us does not 
show too great a confidence in the success of the enemy's previous 
efforts. We are certain it will be unsuccessful. Our opponents start 
from a completely mechanical misjudgment of the character of the 
Austro-Hungarian monarchy, and prefer in their satisfaction to over- 
look, in the present difficult internal problems, the fact that these 
States with their various nationalities are no accidental structure, 
but a product of historical and ethnographical necessity which carry 
in themselves the fundamental principle of life and race. They, 
therefore, possess, and this applies fully to Austria and Hungary, 
the necessary elasticity and adaptability to the changing events of 
the times, the ability to reform themselves according to the necessity 
of their standard of development and to solve all internal crises 
without uncalled-for foreign interference. 

Our enemies want to paralyze us by an offensive of irritation and 
to render us helpless. They want to crush our very powerful or- 
ganism in order to make weak parts, one after the other, serviceable 
to their own purposes. According to their uninvited prescriptions 
one-half of Austria-Hungary's population may perish in order to 
make the other half happy. For that purpose this senseless war 
must be continued. As has always been the case, for centuries past, 
the States and races of the monarchy will settle their internal prob- 
lems in agreement with their ruler. The monarchy resolutely de- 
clines foreign interference in any form just as it does not meddle 
with the affairs of foreigners. We have never prescribed a program 
for our enemies as to how they shall deal with their domestic ques- 
tions, and when we have had occasion frequently to recall that it is 
not all happiness and harmony with our enemies in their domestic 
affairs, and that they have their own problems in Ireland, India, etc., 
we did so only by way of exhortation to reciprocity giving the ad- 
vice: "Sweep before your own door." Our enemy's inflammatory 
activity is not content with trying to stir up our races against one 
another, but it does not even scruple, by means of circulating mon- 
strous and base calumnies, to sow distrust between the races of the 
monarchy and the hereditary dynasty. 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 151 

Two days after the delivery of this speech Foch began his 
memorable offensive, the German armies were driven eastward 
and northward day by day, and at the end of seven weeks 
Bapaume, Peronne, iN'oyon, Soissons and the Vesle were within 
the Allies' lines. Defeat faced the Germans. Again a time 
had come for a peace offensive, and September 9, Count Ka- 
rolyi, hea(J of the Hungarian Independent party, in an open 
letter to his supporters, endorsed the President's peace pro- 
gram as a basis of negotiation. "A decisive military vic- 
tory," said he, "despite its military successes, is a dream which 
it is useless to follow. The prime condition for peace negotia- 
tions is the democratization of nations and the abandonment of 
imperialist theories. A second condition is that we should not 
become slaves to the idea of a Middle Europe, either military, 
economic, or political; that we should not strengthen our alli- 
ance with Germany which would be the first step towards the 
realization of this Central Europe. We ought to accept as a 
basis for negotiations President Wilson's program." 

Count Czernin, in the Vienna Neue Freie Presse^ endorsed 
the League of ITations, and on September 10, Baron Burian, 
Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister, when speaking to German 
newspaper men visiting Vienna, said : 

I would not delude you with baseless prospects of peace at a mo- 
ment when the war fever is still shaking the world. I must, how- 
ever, talk to you of peace because we all honestly want it and because 
we are certain there is an ever-growing number of like-minded per- 
sons in all enemy countries. 

Our adversaries need only provide an opportunity in a calm ex- 
change of views, some sort of direct informative discussions is think- 
able which would be far from being peace negotiations, of discussing 
and weighing everything which to-day separates the belligerent par- 
ties, and no further jSghting will, perhaps, be needed to bring them 
closer together. I am certain that this war must cost this tormented 
earth a terrible amount of bloodshed and an immeasurable destruc- 
tion of precious possessions before the end can be reached by the 
military overthrow of the enemy, if, indeed, this at all is possible. 
We are oppressed by the same cares, but we are not downhearted. 
You can convince yourself here that we, just as in Germany, with 



152 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

head erect and without fear or arrogance, are waging a defensive 
war, rejecting all responsibility for the prolongation thereof which 
was criminally and quite uselessly forced upon us by the enemy. 
No party can be sure of the issue until the end of a war, but it is 
not to be expected that either party should renounce the possibility 
of a military victory. But it is unthinkable that even the most con- 
fident hopes of final victory could permit the enemy in the long run 
to avoid considering whether the moSt terrific exertions and sacri- 
fices can longer be justified in order to carry through principles 
which are not the enemy's monopoly, or to regulate the affairs of 
other peoples who can manage them quite as well themselves. I be- 
lieve that careful and sincere investigation would bring many on 
the other side to realize that they often are fighting for imaginary 
things. It may be an ungrateful task to want to communicate one's 
own perceptions of things to the enemy. The enemy group can, if 
it wishes, convince itself that in all questions of humanity and jus- 
tice and of future international relations it will encounter on the 
part of our group no opposition, and this will be in line with our 
existing progressive aspirations. But at the same time it will meet 
our determination to continue steadfastly to stand up for our own 
right. 

This question arises: Is it not a crime against humanity even to 
think of completely pulling down a structure which has become his- 
torical, and which certainly, here and there, needs improvement, but 
is capable of improvement, in order to found a paradise of the fu- 
ture on its ruins ? The defect in this is that in accordance with the 
destructive methods of our enemies it can be created only with a 
much too great sacrifice. Count the past hecatombs of this war. 
Think of those to come, and ask whether striving to attain war 
aims at such a price is justifiable, war aims in which the principle of 
justice is put foremost, without investigation whether an under- 
standing could not be reached by a fair application of that principle. 
We desire to contribute to the best of our ability to a mutual under- 
standing and help to pave a way for conciliation. But, so long as 
necessary, we shall hold out in a loyal and resolute defense. 

Austria-Hungary having broken the way, Germany followed 
on September 12, when the Kaiser, the Chancellor and the Vice- 
Chancellor spoke concerning peace. 

The Kaiser saw no signs of peace. Standing before the 
Krupp Munition workers at Essen he bemoaned the hatred en- 
gendered by the war. 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 153 

But who was it [he asked] introduced terrible hatred into i;his 
war? It was the enemy. Every one of you in the remotest corner 
of the Fatherland knows that I left no stone unturned to shorten the 
war, as far as possible, for you and your people and for the entire 
civilized European world. In December, 1916, I presented the enemy 
public with a clear and unambiguous offer of peace in the name of 
the German Empire and my allies. Jeers, mockery and contempt 
were the answer. 

Even though in the opinion of many among you the war is lastiilg 
too long, every German man, every German woman must, in witness- 
ing the heroic deeds of the army and navy, be aware that we are 
fighting and struggling for existence and that we must make the ut- 
most effort to defend ourselves victoriously, not only through the 
work, but as regards the thoughts of our people. 

You will acknowledge that I am right in describing this war as 
the product of a great negation. And do you ask what that negation 
is ? It is the negation of the German people's right to existence. It is 
the negation of all our kultur, a negation of our achievements, of 
all our work. The German people were industrious, meditative, as- 
siduous, imaginative in all domains. It worked with body and soul. 
But there were people who did not wish to work, but rest on their 
laurels. Those were our enemies. We got close to them through 
our profitable work and the development of our industry, science and 
art; through our popular education and social legislation. Thereby 
our people throve and then came envy. Envy induced our enemies 
to fight and war came upon us. And now, when our opponents see 
that their hopes have been deceptive, and how our mighty generals, 
after whom your new workshops are rightly named, have dealt them 
blow upon blow, hatred springs up. We only know the honest wrath 
which deals the enemy the blow, but when he lies prostrate and bleed- 
ing we extend to him our hand and see to his recovery. 

Hatred manifests itself only among peoples who feel themselves 
beaten. If, therefore, such terrible hatred exists among our enemies, 
it owes its origin to the fact that their calculations have been wrong. 
Every one who knows the character of the Anglo-Saxons knows what 
it means to fight them — how tenacious they are. We do not know 
when the struggle will end, but one thing we do know, namely, that 
we must fight the battle through. 

Friedrich von Payer, the Imperial Vice-Chancellor, in his 
speeeJa at Stuttgart, reminded his hearers of the State debts 
"everywhere reaching fantastic heights" ; he told them "that the 



154 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

longer the European peoples lacerate eacli other" the greater the 
certainty that a weakened and impoverished Europe would be 
"lost in favor of cleverer and more calculating peoples" ; hut 
consoled them with the reflection that after four years of war- 
fare the fighting was still almost entirely on enemy soil ; that 
the loss of shipping would ruin Great Britain ; that "if we lack 
cotton and oil our enemies lack coal," and urged the Germans 
to hold together. 

The struggle, Herr Payer said, would not end with a peace 
of the usual sort. 

In former peace negotiations, the middle and lower classes, when 
it came to the council table, fell quietly into the background. This, 
now, is over and the governments will conclude the coming peace 
treaties in close harmony with the entire people. The main thing 
for them in peace is not the acquisition of land, treasure and glory; 
they aim nowadays at least at the conclusion of a lasting peace and 
therefore there will be no peace of conquest. Despite everything, 
the peace treaty will have purely positive contents. The nations of 
the earth cry out for further preservation from the further misery 
of wars, for leagues of nations, for international courts of arbitra- 
tion and agreements regarding equal disarmament, cries which the 
enemy governments have made their own and the fulfillment of 
which would not be wrecked by the German Government's opposition. 
We are, on the contrary, ready to collaborate to the best of our 
ability. 

We desire to have a disarmament agreement on the condition of 
complete reciprocity applied not merely to land armies, but even to 
naval forces. In pursuance of the same idea, and even going be- 
yond it, we wiU raise in the negotiations a demand for the freedom 
of the seas and sea routes, for the open door in all oversea possessions 
and for the protection of private property at sea. And if negotiations 
take place regarding the protection of small nations and of national 
minorities in individual States we shall willingly advocate interna- 
tional arrangements which will act for deliverance in countries un- 
der Great Britain's domination. 

Germany, he said, would never consent to the restoration of 
despotic Russia; never place Poland or Finland again under 
the Russian yoke ; never allow the border states on the German 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 155 

frontier and the Baltic to be subjected against tbeir wills to 
Kussian imperialism or thrown into the perils of civil war and 
anarchy. They had come to an understanding with Germany 
and never would she suffer any one to meddle in this matter, 
never would she submit to the Entente for approval the treaties 
with Russia, Rumania, the Ukraine. 

For the rest, the territorial possessions which existed before the 
war can everywhere be restored. A preliminary condition for us 
and our allies is that all the territory should again be restored 
which we possessed on August 1, 1914. Germany must, therefore, in 
the first place receive back her colonies, in which connection the 
idea of an exchange on the grounds of expediency need not be ex- 
cluded. 

We Germans, as soon as peace is concluded, can evacuate the oc- 
cupied regions. We can, when once things have been brought to that 
stage, restore Belgium. If we and our allies are once again in pos- 
session of what belong to us and if we first are sure that in Belgium 
no other State will be more favorably placed than we, then Bel- 
gium, I think I may say, can be given back without incumbrance 
and without reserve. It is hypocrisy to represent Belgium as the 
innocent victim of our policy [Herr von Payer said] and to clothe 
her, as it were, in the white garment of innocence. The Belgian 
Government, that is what matters, not the Belgian people, took an 
active part in Great Britain's policy of encircling Germany. 

As to the question of war indemnities from one party or the 
other, it was enough to say that if Germany had been allowed 
to pursue her work in peace there would have been no war, no 
injuries. 

There can be no question, therefore, of our paying, but only 
whether we should receive compensation for the injuries inflicted 
on us. We are deeply convinced that, as the innocent and attacked 
party, we have a right to indemnification. To go on prosecuting the 
war, however, to that point would cost us such heavy sacrifices, irre- 
parable by money, that we prefer, on calm reflection, and even with 
our favorable military situation, to abandon this idea, quite apart 
from the question of jeopardizing a future peace which would be in- 
evitable if compensation were forcibly urged. 

Unreliable conditions of peace, of course, should not be laid down 



156 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

for our participation in the peace negotiations. We laugh at the idea 
that we should first penitently ask for mercy before we are admitted. 
We laugh at the fools who babble of revenge. I have wished only to 
show that peace by understanding will bring nothing humiliating for 
us nor a period of misery and wretchedness. Strong and courageous 
in the consciousness of our invincibility, equal among the nations of 
the earth, we will lead a life of labor, but also with contentment and 
with an assured future. In common with others we will protect 
the world's peace from future dangers. It would be an illusion to 
calculate on will to peace in those circles among our enemies which 
are responsible for the opening and the continuing of hostilities. For 
years they have been living on the inflaming of war passions. They 
cannot admit to their countrymen that their aims are unattainable 
and that their sacrifices have been made in vain. 

Others among those peoples will think differently. Moreover, 
they will prevail sooner or later. Until then, however, there remains 
nothing for us to do but to defend our lives. We place the respon- 
sibility for the blood which will yet fall on the shoulders of our ene- 
mies. Germany's strength, capacity, courage and self-sacrifice must 
teach our enemies that it has become hopeless for them to continue 
to wage this baneful war. 

Unless all these signs failed another German "peace offen- 
sive" might soon be expected. They did not fail, and, Septem- 
ber 15th, just after the Allies had reached the outskirts of 
Cambrai and Laon, and the First American Army had swept 
across the salient at St. Mihiel, and come under the fire of the 
guns around Metz, the expected peace note appeared. It was 
addressed by Austria directly to all the Allied Powers through 
the media of such neutral nations as were charged with the 
care of the Allies' interests at Vienna. 

The peace offer which the powers of the Quadruple Alliance ad- 
dressed to their opponents on December 12, 1916, and the conciliatory 
basic ideas of which they have never given up, signifies, despite the 
rejection which it experienced, an important stage in the history of 
this war. In contrast to the first two and a half war years, the ques- 
tion of peace has from that moment been the center of European, aye, 
of world discussion, and dominates it in ever-increasing measure. 

Almost all the belligerent states have in turn again and again ex- 
pressed themselves on the question of peace, its prerequisites and 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 157 

conditions. The line of development of this discussion, however, lias 
not been uniform and steady. The basic standpoint changed under 
the influence of the military and political position, and hitherto, at 
any rate, it has not led to a tangible general result that could be 
utilized. 

It is true that, independent of all these oscillations, it can be 
stated that the distance between the conceptions of the two sides has, 
on the whole, grown somewhat less; that despite the indisputable 
continuance of decided and hitherto unbridged differences, a partial 
turning from many of the most extreme concrete war aims is visible 
and a certain agreement upon the relative general basic principles 
of a world peace manifests itself. In both camps there is undoubtedly 
observable, in wide classes of the population, a growth of the will 
to peace and understanding. Moreover, a comparison of the recep- 
tion of the peace proposal of the powers of the Quadruple Alliance 
on the part of their opponents with the later utterances of responsi- 
ble statesmen of the latter, as well as of the non-responsible but, in a 
political respect, nowise uninfluential personalities, confirms this im- 
pression. 

While, for example, the reply of the Allies to President Wilson's 
proposal made demands which amounted to the dismemberment of 
Austria-Hungary, to a diminution and a deep internal transforma- 
tion of the German Empire, and the destruction of Turkish European 
ownership, these demands, the realization of which was based on the 
supposition of an overwhelming victory, were later modified in many 
declarations from official Entente quarters, or in part were dropped. 

Thus, in a declaration made in the British House of Commons a 
year ago, Mr. Balfour, the Foreign Secretary, expressly recognized 
that Austria-Hungary must itself solve its internal problems, and 
that no one could impose a constitution upon Germany from the out- 
side. Mr. Lloyd George, the Prime Minister, declared at the be- 
ginning of this year that it was not one of the Allies' war aims to 
partition Austria-Hungary, to rob the Ottoman Empire of its Turk- 
ish possessions or to reform Germany internally. It may also be 
considered symptomatic that in December, 1917, Mr. Balfour cate- 
gorically repudiated the assumption that British policy had ever en- 
gaged itself for the creation of an independent state out of the ter- 
ritories on the left bank of the Khine. 

The Central Powers leave it in no doubt that they are only wag- 
ing a war of defense for the integrity and the security of their terri- 
tories. 

Far more outspoken than in the domain of concrete war aims has 



158 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

the rapprochement of conceptions proceeded regarding those guiding 
lines upon the basis of which peace shall be concluded and the fu- 
ture order of Europe and the world be built up. In this direction 
President Wilson, in his speeches of February 12 and July 4 of this 
year, has formulated principles which have not encountered contra- 
diction on the part of his Allies and the far-reaching application of 
which is likely to meet with no objection on the part of the Powers 
of the Quadruple Alliance also, presupposing that this application is 
general and recoiicilable with the vital interests of the States con- 
cerned. 

It is true, it must be remembered, that an agreement on general 
principles is insufficient, but that there remains the further matter 
of reaching an accord upon their interpretations and their applica- 
tion to individual concrete war and peace questions. 

To an unprejudiced observer there can be no doubt that in all the 
belligerent states, without exception, the desire for a peace of under- 
standing has been enormously strengthened; that the conviction is 
increasingly spreading that the further continuance of the bloody 
struggle must transform Europe into ruins and into a state of ex- 
haustion that will mar its development for decades to come, and this 
without any guarantee of thereby bringing out that decision by arms 
which has been vainly striven after by both sides in four years filled 
with enormous sacrifices, sufferings and exertions. 

In what manner, however, can the way be paved for an under- 
standing and an understanding finally attained? Is there any seri- 
ous prospect whatever of reaching this aim by continuing the dis- 
cussion of peace problems in the way hitherto followed? We have 
not the courage to answer the latter question in the affirmative. The 
discussion from one public tribune to another, as has hitherto taken 
place between statesmen of the various countries, was really only a 
series of monologues. It lacked, above everything, directness. Speech 
and counterspeech did not fit into each other. The speakers spoke 
over one another's heads. On the other hand it was the publicity and 
the ground of these discussions which robbed them of possibility of 
fruitful progress. In all public statements of this nature a form of 
eloquence is used which reckons with the effect at great distances 
and on the masses. Consciously or unconsciously, however, one there- 
by increases the distance of the opponents' conception, produces mis- 
understandings which take root and are not removed, and makes the 
frank exchange of ideas more difficult. Every pronouncement of 
leading statesmen is, directly after its delivery and before the authori- 



, ,^..__, PEACE OFFENSIVES 159 

tative quarters of the opposite side can reply to it, made the subject 
of passionate or exaggerated discussion by irresponsible elements. 

But anxiety lest they should endanger the interests of their arms 
by unfavorably influencing feeling at home, and lest they prematurely 
betray their own ultimate intentions, also causes the responsible 
statesmen themselves to strike a higher tone and stubbornly to ad- 
here to extreme standpoints. 

If, therefore, an attempt is made to see "whether the basis exists 
for an understanding calculated to deliver Europe from the catastro- 
phe of the suicidal continuation of the struggle, then, in any case, 
another method should be chosen which renders possible a direct, 
verbal discussion between the representatives of the governments and 
only between them. The opposing conceptions of individual belliger- 
ent States would likewise have to form the subject of such a discus- 
sion for mutual enlightenment as well as the general principles that 
shall serve as the basis for peace and the future relations of the 
States to one another, and regarding which, in the first place, an ac- 
cord can be sought with a prospect of success. 

As soon as an agreement has been reached on the fundamental prin- 
ciples an attempt would have to be made in the course of the dis- 
cussions concretely to apply them to individual peace questions and 
thereby bring about their solution. 

We venture to hope that there will be no objection on the part of 
any belligerents to such an exchange of views. The war activities 
would experience no interruption. The discussions, too, would only 
go so far as was considered by the participants to offer a prospect of- 
success. No disadvantages would arise therefrom for the states rep- 
resented. Far from harming, such an exchange of views could only 
be useful to the cause of peace. 

What did not succeed the first time can be repeated, and perhaps 
it has already at least contributed to the clarification of views. Moun- 
tains of old misunderstandings might be removed and many new 
things perceived. Streams of pent-up human kindness would be 
released, in the warmth of which everything essential would remain 
and, on the other hand, much that is antagonistic, to which excessive 
independence is still attributed, would disappear. 

According to our conviction all the belligerents jointly owe to 
humanity to examine whether now, after so many years of costly but 
undecided struggle, the entire course of which points to an under- 
standing, it is possible to make an end to the terrible grapple. 

The Eoyal and Imperial Government would like, therefore, to pro- 
pose to the governments of all the belligerent states to send delegates 



160 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

to a confidential and unbinding discnssion on the basic principles 
for the conclusion of peace, in a place in a neutral country and at 
a near date that would yet have to be agreed upon — delegates who 
were charged to make known to one another the conception of their 
governments regarding those principles and to receive analogous 
communications as well as to request and give frank and candid ex- 
planations on all those points which need to be precisely defined. 

The Royal and Imperial Government has the honor to request the 
government of , through the kind mediation of Your Excel- 
lency, to bring this commixnication to the knowledge of the govern- 
ment of .^ 

A dispatch from London announced that according to in- 
formation received Germany had made a definite peace offer 
to Belgium and that the terms were that Belgium shall remain 
neutral until the end of the war. That thereafter the entire 
economic and political independence of Belgium shall be re- 
constituted. That the pre-war commercial treaties between 
Germany and Belgium shall again be put into operation after 
the war for an indefinite period. That Belgium shall use her 
good ofiices to secure the return of the German colonies. That 
the Flemish question shall be considered and the Flemish 
minority, which aided the German invaders, shall not be 
penalized. 

No admission was made that Germany had in any way 
wronged Belgium, nor did the proposal allude to reparation or 
indemnity. Instructions, it was further reported, had been 
given to the German legation at Helsingfors to declare to the 
Finnish government that in order to remove all danger of 
trouble between Finland and Sweden, Germany would not send 
troops to Eastern Karelia, and promised, if Great Britain and 
the other Entente Powers would evacuate Karelia and the Mur- 
man coast, to withdraw her troops from those regions within a 
period not named. American journals said: 

Certainly Austria has wanted peace and wants it still, but it wants 
peace on terms which the Entente Allies not only cannot grant, but 

^ The names of the intermediary government and of that addressed in 
the particular note dispatched are left blank. 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 161 

cannot listen to. The Entente is perfectly willing to make peace to- 
morrow, but that peace must be sued for by Germany, not Austria, 
and must be asked on the basis of the acknowledgment of defeat, 
the admission of wrong, and a pledge of reparation of the wrong. 
On no other basis could a lasting peace be arranged, and we have 
fought too long and sacrificed too much to consent to any other than 
a lasting peace.2 

The answer will be a firm and decisive negative. There will be 
no "calm exchange of views." 

President Wilson has specifically stated and repeatedly affirmed the 
main conditions of peace. These conditions and principles have been 
fully indorsed by Entente statesmen in every country concerned. 
Nothing short of full compliance with them will satisfy the nations 
now fighting together for freedom — and a condition precedent to 
their consideration at a peace conference is that the Central Powers 
and their accomplices shall lay down their arms, withdraw from oc- 
cupied territories, including Kussia, and that the shameful Brest- 
Litovsk treaty shall be abrogated. Until these conditions are com- 
plied with the answer to Austria-Hungary is NO I — and this is backed 
up by force "without stint or limit." 

After spreading hell over thousands of miles and making deserts 
out of smiling gardens, these savages suggest a halt. It isn't for 
them to say. There may be pacifists who will advocate such an agree- 
ment. Put them down for friends of Germany the moment they be-, 
gin their sentimental or treasonable talk. Why should Germany be- 
consulted on how to terminate the war? Terms must be for her to 
obey, not to make. The Austrian dodge deserves notice only as an 
admission of defeat.^ 

Do we believe what we say about this German thing — that it is 
frightful beyond redemption, that it has no faith to pledge, that it 
has betrayed the very principles of civilization, that it cannot be lived 
with, and that it must be utterly destroyed. If all of this be 
true, and we believe it, then Aot only is it iijipossible to make 
peace with Germany, but we cannot even dicuss with her the 
terms on which she shall be permitted to continue her existence 
on earth. 

It is evident that Germany has abandoned the ambition to conquer 
the world. Shall the world be grateful on that account? Shall it 
parley with the thing it resolved to destroy for reasons which, if they 

'Boston Transcript. 
'Hartford Courant. 



162 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

are valid at all, require free people rather to perish than to compro- 
mise ? To do so would stultify democracy beyond the imagination of 
its posterity.* 

What the instinctive answer of the average red-blooded American 
will be we have no doubt. He will repeat Grant's words and say, 
that no terms will be accepted but an immediate and unconditional 
surrender. And that is what we hope the United States Government 
and the Governments of England, France and Italy will say. The 
present German Government cannot be trusted. It is more impor- 
tant now than ever before to apply force, without stint or limit.® 

Germany started this war; civilization will finish it. The spirit 
that animates the allied millions, which commands them to get into 
battle and conquer, is the spirit of liberty. That spirit is now aflame 
throughout the world, and in outraged majesty is driving its sword 
straight toward the heart of its assailant. Who will attempt to stay 
Liberty's hand? Who is the statesman or ruler who will dare to stay 
the execution of the assassin ? Who is the man who will try to inter- 
fere with God's will as voiced by His people?^ 

Let the Hun whine, let him sing his song of peace and brother- 
hood. Our answer to his peace twaddle shall be more war. We shall 
reply to his whimpers with machine guns. Against his flimsy struc- 
tures of whining deception we let loose our armies with renewed 
vigor.'' 

The answer to this bit of sinister Teutonism should be uncondi- 
tional surrender. Then a conference may be held to arrange the 
details. America, England, France, and Italy can do no other than 
insist upon this. They owe it to the heroic dead of their armies 
who gave their lives for the maintenance of the principles the Presi- 
dent enunciated and all approved ; they owe it to the fighting men in 
the field who are cheerfully accepting the dangers, the hardships, and 
the strain of battle that liberty and democracy may live, and they 
owe it to their people at home who have been undergoing and are 
still undergoing the privation and sacrifices the support of the armies 
entails to accept no peace of compromise. It must rather be sur- 
render or force to the limit.* 

*New York Tribune. 
^ Baltimore Sun 

• Washington, D. C, Post. 
' Cleveland Plain Dealer. 

* Chattanooga Times. 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 163 

Our answer should be a stiffening of our offensive on all fronts 
and a still greater determination on the part of those at home to do 
their part in pushing this struggle unfalteringly until Germany is 
not only crushed but crushed beyond all possibility of restoration 
among the nations of the world. Then only can we have real peace.^ 

Only one answer is possible, and that answer must be an emphatic 
refusal. We know enough of Austria and Germany to know that they 
cannot be negotiated with. They are beyond the pale. Acceptance of 
the proposal would be foolish and dangerous.^** 

True Americans wiU take their stand promptly and unmistakably. 
We are not going to bargain with the blood-stained gang of thugs 
and pirates in high places who deliberately and after long and care- 
ful planning plunged the world into war in July, 1914. We are go- 
ing to smash them utterly and completely.^^ 

In tlie opinion of the British press the peace offer meant 
either of two things : that Germany was using Austria to make 
a sham proposal that time to reorganize her beaten army might 
be gained ; or that Austria put such pressure on Germany that 
she was forced to consent. Neither Germany nor Austria, it 
was held, has the least expectation that the Allies would accept 
the offer. What they desire is rejection that it may be held^ 
up before their dejected armies and peoples as a conclusive 
reason for going on with the war. But the Austrian note must 
not be taken alone. It must be read together with the German 
offer to withdraw from N'orthem Russia if the Allies will do 
the same, and with the bid for Belgian neutrality. The intent 
in both instances is to arouse discord among the Allies, not to 
promote peace between the belligerents. It is an impudent, 
shameless proposal never intended to benefit Belgium or satisfy 
the Allies. But in vain is the net spread in the sight of the 
bird. It is a disingenuous, cynical, insincere attempt to divert 
the Entente Powers from a resolute prosecution of the war. 

* Cheyenne State Leader. 

"Idaho Statesman. 

" Charleston, S. C, News and Courier. 



164. THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

[None save the London Daily News had one word to say in favor 
of the note. The News believed : 

Discussions at some stage must be the essential preliminary to 
peace. Can there be any warrant for deciding that discussions at 
this stage must of necessity be futile? There are no solid grounds 
on which statesmen, sincerely zealous for peace, could justify rejec- 
tion of the Austrian proposal. 

Discussion would not involve an armistice. That is specifically 
laid down. There would and could be no question of the Allies com- 
promising their fundamental principles. On the other hand, there is 
more than a remote prospect that discussions that might leave Ger- 
many obdurate might have a very different result in the case of Tur- 
key or Bulgaria or even Austria. The Allies in short, with an un- 
assailable moral case, have everything to gain and nothing to lose by 
discussion. 

The only reply we can make to the Vienna note [said the Evening 
Standard'] is simply this : We are ready to negotiate with responsi- 
ble representatives of the German and Austrian peoples, if the prin- 
ciple is accepted that they will pay compensation for damage done 
and accept as a basis of discussion our general principles of the sa- 
credness of public law, and the right of nations to self-determination. 
But we will not parley with representatives of systems which are a 
negation of all we are fighting for. 

Mr. Balfour, British Foreign Secretary, at a luncheon given 
in London by the Royal Colonial Institute to the overseas press 
representatives, spoke long on the subject of the Austrian note, 
and having passed in review its many points, and the impossi- 
bility of settling the issues at stake by conversation which bound 
nobody, said: 

I say it is impossible to conceive that any conversation can bridge 
over differences so deep, or restore to the German power over those 
unhappy populations he has misused, or restore to Germany control 
over those naval bases to be misused as she knows how to misuse 
them, and so make her controller not merely of lines of communica- 
tion binding one element of the British Empire to another, but make 
her master of aU the lines of communication binding the whole civil- 
ized world. Is that to be put right by conversation? 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 165 

In Germany, the press threw on Austria all responsibility 
for the note. Die Tages Zeitung, of Berlin, thought the initia- 
tive should have heen left to the Allies; the Berlin Tageblait 
was sure that "the independent action" of Austria would lead 
the Allies to increase their military activity. 

Keeping up the pretense of independent action by Austria, 
the Imperial German Government on September 20, through 
its Ambassador in Vienna, made reply to the Austrian note. 

The summons of the Austro-Hungarian Government to all belliger- 
ent States to enter into confidential unbinding discussions in a neu- 
tral country of the fundamental principles for the conclusion of 
peace corresponds to the spirit of peace readiness and conciliatoriness 
which the responsible statesmen of the quadruple alliance and the 
authorized representatives of allied (Teutonic) peoples have again 
and again announced. The reception which previous similar steps 
met with from our enemies was not encouraging. 

The Imperial Government, however, follows the new attempt to 
bring the world nearer to the just and lasting peace which it desires, 
with the sincere and earnest wish that the statement of the Austro- 
Hungarian Government, inspired by profound conciliatory feeling 
and noble humanity will this time evoke the desired echo. 

In the name of the Imperial Government, the undersigned has the 
honor to declare that Germany is ready to participate in the proposed" 
exchange of ideas. 

Our own Government ere that time had answered l^o ! Mr. 
Lansing, September 16th, had given assurance that such would 
be the reply. 

I am authorized by the President [he said] to state that the fol- 
lowing will be the reply of this Government to the Austro-Hungarian 
note proposing an unofficial conference of belligerents. 

The Government of the United States feels that there is only one 
reply which it can make to the suggestion of the Imperial Austro- 
Hungarian Government. It has repeatedly and with entire candor 
stated the terms upon which the United States would consider peace, 
and can and will entertain no proposal for a conference upon a mat- 
ter concerning which it has made its position and purpoBe so plain. 



166 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

And so it came about tliat when the formal note was deliv- 
ered to the Swedish Minister in charge of Austro-Hnngarian 
interests in our country the words given out by Mr. Lansing 
were embodied in it. 

I beg to say [was the reply of the Secretary] that the substance 
of your commimication has been submitted to the President, who 
now directs me to inform you that the Government of the United 
States feels that there is only one reply which it can make to the 
suggestion of the Imperial Austro-Hungarian Government. It has 
repeatedly and with entire candor stated the terms upon which the 
United States would consider peace and can and will entertain no 
proposal for a conference upon a matter concerning which it has 
made its position and purpose so plain. 

President Wilson's answer, and Mr. Balfour's speech, were 
held, by the press in Germany, to prove that the Allies sought 
complete destruction of the Central Powers and dismember- 
ment of their territory. "This cold, cutting scorn, this cool 
rejection, has a more overwhelming and more annihilating 
effect than all the official phrases which the man in the White 
House could have employed," said the Eheinische Westphael- 
ische Zeitung. "What does this mean," said the Deutsche 
Tages Zeitung, concerning the demand for Alsace-Lorraine and 
the colonies, "if the Entente do not intend to dismember and 
crush the German Empire ? There is but one thing left for us, 
victory or destruction." There were two points, the Socialist 
journal, Vorwaerts, said, which the German people were willing 
to discuss, Belgium and the treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and two 
points, the retention of the German colonies and Alsace-Lor- 
raine, which could never be yielded save after a complete mili- 
tary victory by the Entente. "If Jhe matter of giving back to 
us our colonies is a closed incident for England, then peace 
talk is useless so far as we are concerned," said the Lokal 
Anzeiger. 

Erom the press the discussion of peace passed to the Chan- 
cellor, Count von Hertling, who, in speaking before the Main 
Committee of the Reichstag, complained that no attention had 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 167 

been given to his acceptance of the four points of President 
Wilson's message of February 11, 1918. 

As is known, the President of the United States laid down in four- 
teen points the guiding lines for a conclusion of peace. On January 
24 of this year I discussed in your committee all these points, and 
regarding the last remarked that the idea of a league of nations as 
suggested had my entire sympathy on the condition that an honest 
will to peace and the recognition of the equal rights of all States 
of the league were guaranteed. How necessary was this reservation 
was shown by the statements of our enemies who, in a league of na- 
tions, thought of an alliance directed against Germany and her allies. 

President Wilson in a message on February 2 (February 11 ?) took 
a further step in the same direction and laid down four points or 
principles, which in his opinion should be applied in an exchange of 
views. In my Eeichstag speech of February 22, I declared myseK in 
principle in agreement with the possibility of discussing a general 
peace on such a basis. President Wilson, however, has neither then 
nor since taken any notice of it. 

Meanwhile the former idealist and zealous friend of peace seems 
to have developed into the head of the American imperialists. But 
the plan of a league of nations yet to be established is not to be dis- 
credited by such an action. It has found eloquent advocates in the 
Swiss President and the Norwegian Premier Knudsen, both of whom 
dwell especially on the interest of neutral States in such an institu-^ 
tion. 

I also do not hesitate to express my opinion again to-day on this 
question and to indicate publicly the aim and basis of such an asso- 
ciation. It is a question of promoting universal, equal and successive 
disarmament, the establishment of obligatory courts of arbitration, 
freedom of the seas and the protection of small nations. 

Regarding the first point, on February 24, I described the idea of 
restriction of armaments as thoroughly discussable, adding that the 
financial position of all the European States after the war would give 
the most effective support to a solution of this question. 

Regarding the question of arbitration, my standpoint has long been 
history. I will not go into details, but interesting material which 
I have before me shows that Germany in the past repeatedly suggested 
arbitration of disputed questions, the carrying out of which in sev- 
eral cases, however, was prevented by opposition raised in Great 
Britain or America. If an international understanding could be 
reached that disputed questions of law between various States must 



168 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

always be submitted to arbitration courts, and if this were made ob- 
ligatory for members of a league of nations, it would undoubtedly 
be an important step toward the attainment of tbe general aim. More 
precise prescriptions, especially regarding requisite guarantees for 
tbe recognition of verdicts made by arbitration, need careful and 
thorough consideration. 

I have expressed myself before this on the question of freedom of 
the seas which forms a necessary prerequisite for the unrestricted 
intercourse of states and peoples. Here, however, the greatest diffi- 
culties, naturally, are not raised on our side. On a former occasion 
I pointed out that there must be unhindered access for all nations to 
the inland seas, no predominant position of Great Britain at Gibral- 
tar and Malta and in the Suez Canal. . . , An English newspaper 
has called this impudence. 

Finally, there is a protection of small nations. Here we can forth- 
with and without reserve state that in this matter we have an en- 
tirely clear conscience. May, therefore, a league of nations be no 
mere dream of the future. May the idea deepen and may the people 
in all countries zealously concern themselves with the means for its 
establishment. The first and most important prerequisite will be 
an energetic will to champion peace and justice. 

At this stage of the peace debate the British entered Strum- 
nitza, the Italians, French and Greeks took Krichevo, and the 
Bulgarians asked a suspension of hostilities. 

A high Bulgarian official, General d'Esperey reported to 
Paris, had come in the name of the Bulgarian commander and 
asked for an armistice of forty-eight hours to permit the arrival 
of two delegates from the Bulgarian Government, and that the 
Minister of Finance and the commander of the Second Army 
were on their way to arrange for the armistice at the French 
headquarters. Fearing that the request might be a ruse to 
enable the Bulgarians to rearrange their forces and perchance 
obtain reenforcements, General d'Esperey replied: 

I can accord neither an armistice nor a suspension of hostilities 
tending to interrupt the operations in course. On the other hand, I 
will receive with all due courtesy the delegates, duly qualified by the 
royal Bulgarian Government, to which your excellency alludes in 
the letter. These delegates to present themselves in the British 
lines, accompanied by a parlementaire. 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 169 

An official Bulgarian statement announced that : 

In view of tlie conjuncture of circumstances which have recently 
arisen and after the position had been jointly discussed with all com< 
petent authorities, the Bulgarian Government, desiring to put an 
end to the bloodshed, authorized the commander-in-chief of the army 
to propose to the generalissimo of the armies of the Entente at Sa- 
loniki a cessation of hostilities and the entering into of negotiations 
for obtaining an armistice and peace. 

The members of the Bulgarian delegation left yesterday evening 
in order to get into touch with the plenipotentiaries of the Entente 
belligerents. 

The Borlin newspapers denied that the delegation had gone 
to meet the French commander, and asserted that German 
troops were on their way to aid the Bulgarians. "It must, 
therefore, be hoped that the King and pro-Germans must soon 
again be masters of the situation," said the Berlin Deutsche 
Zeitung. "Premier Malinoff is supported by only a part of the 
Bulgarian General Assembly," said the Berlin Tageblatt, "and 
such efforts as are now proceeding were proposed while the 
Kings of Saxony and Bavaria were visiting Sofia. Malinoff's 
plan is to give up the territories taken from Sofia and to demand', 
compensation in Turkish territory." Admiral von Hintze, the 
German Foreign Secretary, was reported to have explained the 
situation in a speech before the Main Committee of the Reichs- 
tag. It was not clear, he said, whether the Bulgarian govern- 
ment had acted in accordance with the wishes of the army or 
of its own accord. There were indications that Premier Ma- 
linoff's act would be disavowed later. The peace delegation 
reported to have left for Saloniki on Wednesday was, he said, 
in Sofia Thursday, and some counter action was evidently 
coming. The German High Command threw all reserves at its 
disposal into Bulgaria when the bad news came from Mace- 
donia. Austria also sent reserves and these forces would re- 
store the military situation. It was serious, but would be 
clearer in a few days, and there was no reason to give up the 
game in Bulgaria. 



170 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

^Nevertheless, tlie report that a delegation was on its way to 
the French commander was true. On Saturday, September 28, 
they reached Saloniki, on Sunday all the terms of the Allies 
were accepted by Bulgaria, and an armistice signed, and at 
noon, Monday, hostilities ended. The terms were not an- 
nounced, but they were believed to be that Bulgaria should 
withdraw her troops from all territory occupied in Serbia and 
Greece, demobilize her army at once, surrender all means of 
transportation by land and water, grant free passage for the 
Allies through the country for military purposes, and give up 
to the Allies arms, ammunition, strategic points and ports. 

That Turkey would soon sue for peace was now thought 
certain. Indeed tb.ere were those who saw in the utterances of 
the German press unmistakable signs of collapse. 

On the night of the day on which the news of the Bulgarian 
request was made public in our country, September 27th, the 
President, in 'New York City, opened the Fourth Liberty Loan 
Campaign with a speech in which he once more defined the 
issues of the war and the terms on which peace could be con- 
cluded. 

The war [he said] had lasted more than four years and the whole 
world had been drawn into it. Individual statesmen, it might be, 
had started the conflict, but neither they nor their opponents could 
end it as they pleased. It had become a peoples' war, and peoples ai 
all sorts and races were involved in it. We came into it when its 
character had become fully defined and it was plain that no nation 
could stand apart or be indifferent to its outcome. 

We accepted the issues of the war as facts, not as any group of 
men either here or elsewhere had defined them, and we can accept 
no outcome which does not squarely meet and settle them. Those 
issues are these: 

Shall the military power of any nation or group of nations be suf- 
fered to determine the fortunes of peoples over whom they have no 
right to rule except the right of force ? 

Shall strong nations be free to wrong weak nations and make them 
subject to their purpose and interest? 

Shall peoples be ruled and dominated, even in their own internal 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 171 

affairs, by arbitrary and irresponsible force or by tbeir own vpill and 
choice ? 

Shall there be a common standard of right and privilege for all 
peoples and nations or shall the strong do as they will and the weak 
suffer without redress? 

Shall the assertion of right be haphazard and by casual alliance 
or shall there be a common concert to oblige the observance of com- 
mon rights? 

No man, no group of men, chose these to be the issues of the strug- 
gle. They are the issues of it; and they must be settled — ^by no ar- 
rangement or compromise or adjustment of interests, but definitely, 
and once for all, and with a full and unequivocal acceptance of the 
principle that the interest of the weakest is as sacred as the interest 
of the strongest. 

This is what we mean when we speak of a permanent peace, if 
we speak sincerely, intelligently, and with a real knowledge and com- 
prehension of the matter we deal with. 

We are all agreed that there can be no peace obtained by any 
kind of bargain or compromise with the Governments of the Central 
Empires, because we have dealt with them already, and have seen 
them deal with other Governments that were parties to this struggle, 
at Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest. They have convinced us that they 
are without honor and do not intend justice. They observe no 
covenants, accept no principle but force and their own interest. We 
cannot "come to terms" with them. They have made it impossible. - 
The German people must by this time be fully aware that we 
cannot accept the word of those who forced this war upon us. We 
do not think the same thoughts or speak the same language of 
agreement. 

It is of capital importance that we should also be explicitly agreed 
that no peace shall be obtained by any kind of compromise or 
abatement of the principles we have avowed as the principles for 
which we are fighting. There should exist no doubt about that. I 
am, therefore, going to take the liberty of speaking with the utmost 
frankness about the practical implications that are involved in it. 

If it be indeed and in truth the common object of the govern- 
ments associated against Germany and of the nations whom they 
govern, as I believe it to be to achieve by the coming settlement a 
secure and lasting peace, it will be necessary that all who sit down 
at the peace table shall come ready and willing to pay the price, 
the only price, that will procure it, and ready and willing, also, to 
create in some virile fashion the only instrumentality by which it 



172 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

can be made certain that the agreements of the peace will be honored 
and fulfilled. 

That price is impartial justice in every item of the settlement, no 
matter whose interest is crossed; and not only impartial justice, but 
also the satisfaction of the several peoples whose fortunes are dealt . 
with. That indispensable instrumentality is a League of Nations 
formed under covenants that will be efficacious. Without such an 
instrumentality by which the peace of the world can be guar- 
anteed, peace will rest in part upon the word of outlaws and only 
upon that word. For Germany will have to redeem her character, 
not by what happens at the peace table, but by what follows. 

And, as I see it, the constitution of that League of Nations, and 
the clear definition of its objects must be a part, is in a sense the 
most essential part, of the peace settlement itself. It cannot be 
formed now. If formed now, it would be merely a new alliance 
confined to the nations associated against a common enemy. It is 
not likely that it could be formed after the settlement. It is 
necessary to guarantee the peace; and the peace cannot be guar- 
anteed as an afterthought. The reason, to speak in plain terms, 
again, why it must be guaranteed is, that there will be parties to the 
peace whose promises have proved untrustworthy, and means must 
be found in connection with the peace settlement itself to remove 
that source of insecurity. It would be folly to leave the guarantee 
to the subsequent voluntary action of the governments we have 
seen destroy Russia and deceive Rumania. 

But these general terms do not disclose the whole matter. Some 
details are needed to make them sound less like a thesis and more 
like a practical program. These, then, are some of the particulars, 
and I state them with the greater confidence because I can state them 
authoritatively as representing this Goyernment's interpretation of 
its own duty with regard to peace: 

First. The impartial justice meted out must involve no dis- 
crimination between those to whom we wish to be just and those to 
whom we do not wish to be just. It must be a justice that plays no 
favorites and knows no standard but the equal rights of the several 
peoples concerned. 

Second. No special or separate interest of any single nation or 
any group of nations can be made the basis of any part of the settle- 
ment which is not consistent with the common interests of all. 

Third. There can be no leagues or alliances or special covenants 
and understandings with the general and common family of the 
league of nations. 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 173 

Fourth. And more specifically, there can be no special, selfish 
economic combinations within the league and no employment of any 
form of economic boycott or exclusion except as the power of 
economic penalty by exclusion from the markets of the world may be 
vested in the league of nations itself as a means of discipline and 
control. 

Fifth. All international agreements and treaties of every kind 
must be made known in their entirety to the rest of the world. 

Special alliances and economic rivalries and hostilities have been 
the prolific source in the modern world of the plans and passions 
that produce war. It would be an insincere as well as an insecure 
peace that did not exclude them in definite and binding terms. 



In the same sentence in which I say that the United States will 
enter into no special arrangements or understandings with particular 
nations let me say also that the United States is prepared to assume 
its full share of responsibility for the maintenance of the common 
covenants and understandings upon which peace must henceforth 
rest. We still read Washington's immortal warning against "entan- 
gling alliances" with full comprehension and an answering purpose. 
But only special and limited alliances entangle; and we recognize 
and accept the duty of a new day in which we are permitted to hope 
for a general alliance which will avoid entanglements and clear the 
air of the world for common understandings and the maintenance of 
common rights. 

Germany now faced the great political crisis of the war. 
Bulgaria had deserted her; Turkey might soon be forced to 
follow Bulgaria, and the whole western front from Ostend to 
the Meuse was crumbling. "Germany's most serious hour seems 
to have struck," said the LokaX Anzeiger of Berlin. "It is use- 
less to gloss over this news," said the Frankfurter Zeitung, 
when it heard of Bulgaria's request for an armistice, "and we 
are not quite sure whether it would not be useful to attach 
considerable importance to the semi-official attempts to veil the 
threatening secession of Bulgaria, or raise any hopes." Yor- 
waerts called loudly for peace. "The question is no longer one 
of conquest, but of attaining peace in an orderly way and with- 
out unbearable burdens. Tbe Government must do everything 



174 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD [WAR 

possible to enable it to come to the conference table together 
with its allies as speedily as possible. It must be the Govern- 
ment of the German democracy which goes to the conference. 
The greatest war humanity has experienced ends as a war of 
purely German defense, and as such it must now quickly, and 
as well as possible, be brought to an end." 

Excitement over the defection of Bulgaria rose high in Ger- 
many. War industry stocks fell rapidly in Berlin; a peace 
demonstration followed; a cheering crowd gathered before the 
Bulgarian Legation ; and Chancellor von Hertling and Foreign 
Minister Admiral von Hintze resigned. Even the Kaiser 
showed signs of alarm. When accepting the resignation of 
Count von Hertling, he said, "I desire that the German people 
shall cooperate more effectively than hitherto in deciding the 
fate of the Fatherland." In a message to the Fatherland party 
he appealed to the people for support. "I have the confident 
hope that the whole German people in these most serious times 
will resolutely gather around me and give their blood and wealth 
until the last breath for defense of the Fatherland against the 
shameful enemy plans. Such a unanimous resolve to exist will 
and must, with God's help, succeed in breaking the enemy's will 
to war, and secure the Fatherland the peace it is worthy of 
among the peoples of the world." "Bulgaria," said Yorwaerts, 
"deserts the Central Alliance to make peace. We, the German 
people, thus remain alone to face the French, the English and 
the Americans, our backs to the wall and death facing us. Such 
is the situation that we have in view to-day, and we must meet 
it with the necessary courage." The LoTcal Anzeiger did not 
think any man could "help seeing how great the danger is owing 
to the Bulgarian" defection. "It would be a crime to conceal 
it." 

From Amsterdam it was reported that Vienna newspapers 
described the excitement caused in that city by the collapse of 
Bulgaria as tremendous. Rumors were afloat that Turkey had 
followed the lead of Bulgaria, that King Ferdinand had abdi- 
cated, that his palace had been blown up, and that a revolution 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 175 

had broken out in Roumania. They were at once denied. 
ISTevertheless, there was a panic on the Berlin Bourse, and such 
was the excitement on the Budapest Bourse that business was 
suspended. Later dispatches from Amsterdam announced that 
Prince Maximilian of Baden had been chosen Chancellor to 
succeed von Hertling; that he would announce his policy at a 
full meeting of the Reichstag in a few days ; that Philip Schei- 
dermann, vice-president of the Reichstag and leader of the 
Majority Social Democrats, and Adolf Grober, leader of the 
Centrist party in the Reichstag, would be Secretaries of State 
without portfolios, and that the Socialist and Social Democrat 
groups had agreed to aid in the organization of a Government 
under Prince Maximilian. 

Austria, too, felt the blow. "No sooner had the news of Bul- 
garia's request reached Vienna than Premier von Hussarex 
summoned the party leaders and asked if, in view of the serious- 
ness of the situation, it were well to have the lower House 
assemble on October 2. The Deputies thought it should meet 
at the appointed time and when it did the Premier made a 
long speech on the situation, and declared his belief that the 
hour was near when action would be taken on the peace offer 
of Baron Burian. In the course of discussion which followed - 
the Socialists demanded peace and stated the terms on which 
it should be made. They were : A. league of nations ; no eco- 
nomic war; no annexations; restoration of Belgium, Serbia, 
Montenegro; revision of the treaties of Brest-Litovsk and 
Bucharest; autonomy for each nation in Austria-Hungary; 
settlement of their own affairs by the Poles, and of the Eastern 
issues on the basis of nationalities. Just what was happening 
in Austria-Hungary was not known ; but such rumors as reached 
the Allies through Amsterdam, untrue as many of them were, 
left no doubt that another peace movement was under way. 
According to the Berlin Tageblati, Austria-Hungary had re- 
quested Holland to invite the belligerents to take part in peace 
negotiations. According to the Cologne Gazette, the Hungarian 
Premier Werkerle, with Count Julius Andrassy, Count Stephen 



176 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Tisza and Count Albert Apponyi, liad gone to Vienna in the 
interest of peace. Dispatches from Budapest stated that de- 
mands for a coalition Cabinet in Hungary were insistent; and 
that Baron von Hussarex must resign. 

Holland had not been asked to invite the belligerents to con- 
sider peace ; but a movement for peace was under way, and on 
October 5 the Austro-Hungarian Minister at Stockholm was 
instructed to send to President Wilson a proposal for a general 
armistice and peace. 

The Austro-Hungarian monarchy, which has waged war always 
and solely as a defensive war, and repeatedly given documentary 
evidence of its readiness to stop the shedding of blood and arrive 
at a just and honorable peace, hereby addresses itself to his lordship, 
the President of the United States of America, and offers to con- 
clude with him and his Allies an armistice on every front on land, 
at sea and in the air, and to enter immediately upon negotiations 
toward a peace for which the fourteen points in the message of 
President Wilson to Congress of January 8, 1918, and the four 
points contained in President Wilson's address on February 12, 
1918, serve as the foundation and in which the viewpoints declared 
by President Wilson in his address of September 27, 1918, will 
also be taken into account. 

It was now the turn of Germany to cry for peace. When, 
therefore, the new Imperial German Chancellor met the Eeichs- 
tag on October 5 he announced that a note had been addressed 
to President Wilson through the Swiss Government. President 
Wilson had been addressed because, in his message to Congress 
January 8, 1918, and in his speech at "New York on Septem- 
ber 27, 1918, he had proposed a plan for a general peace which 
Germany and her Allies would accept as a basis for peace 
negotiation. The official translation of the German note reads : 

The German Government requests the President of the United 
States of America to take steps for the restoration of peace, to notify 
all belligerents of his request and to invite them to delegate plenipo- 
tentiaries for the purpose of taking up negotiations. The German 
Government accepts, as a basis for peace negotiations, the program 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 177 

laid down by the President of the United States in his message to 
Congress of January 8, 1918, and in his subsequent pronouncements, 
particularly in his address of September 27, 1918. In order to 
avoid further bloodshed, the German Government requests to bring 
about the immediate conclusion of a general armistice on land, on 
water and in the air. 

The Chancellor opened his speech with the statement that 
"in accordance with the Imperial decree of September 30, the 
German Empire has undergone a basic alteration of its political 
leadership"; and that in accordance "with the government 
method now introduced, I submit to the Reichstag, publicly 
and without delay, the principles upon which I propose to con- 
duct the grave responsibilities of the office." These principles, 
he said, had been agreed upon by the federated governments, 
and by the majority parties' leaders, before he decided to accept 
the Chancellorship, They contained, therefore, not only his 
own "confession of political faith," but that "of an overwhelm- 
ing portion of the German people's representatives; that is, of 
the German nation which has constituted the Reichstag on the 
basis of a general, equal and secret franchise and according to 
their will." The knowledge that the will of the majority of the - 
people was back of him alone gave him strength to take upon 
himseK the conduct of the affairs of the Empire "in this hard 
and earnest time in which we are living." 

His resolve so to do had been strengthened by the fact "that 
prominent leaders of the laboring class have found a way," 
under the new Government, into "the highest offices of the 
Empire." Hence "what I say to-day I say is not only in my 
own name and those of my official helpers, but in the name of 
the German people." 

In their name, therefore, he said: 

The program of the majority parties upon which I take my stand 
contains, first, an acceptance of the answer of the former Imperial 
Government to Pope Benedict's note of August 1, 1916, and an 
unconditional acceptance of the Reichstag resolution of July 19, 
the same year. It further declares willingness to join a general 



178 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

league of nations based on the foundation of equal rights for all, 
both strong and weak. 

It considers the solution of the Belgian question to lie in the 
complete rehabilitation of Belgium, particularly of its independence 
and territorial integrity. An effort shall also be made to reach an 
understanding on the question of indemnity. 

The program will not permit the peace treaties hitherto con- 
cluded to be a hindrance to the conclusion of a general peace. 

Its particular aim is that popular representative bodies shall be 
formed immediately on a broad basis in the Baltic provinces, in 
Lithuania and Poland. We will promote the realization of necessary 
preliminary conditions therefor without delay by the introduction 
of civilian rule. AU these lands shall r^ulate their Constitutions 
and their relations vnth neighboring peoples without external inter- 
ference. 

* * * * * 

At the peace negotiations the German Government will use its 
efforts to the end that the treaties shall contain provisions con- 
cerning the protection of labor and insurance of laborers, which 
provisions shall enable the treaty-making States to institute in their 
respective lands within a prescribed time a minimum of similar, or 
at least equally, efficient institutions for the security of life and 
health as for the care of laborers in the case of illness, accident or 
invalidism. 

During a month past, the Chancellor continued, "a continu- 
ous, terrible, murderous battle has been raging in the west. 
Thanks to the incomparable heroism of our army, which will 
live as an immortal, glorious page in the history of the German 
people at all times, the front is unbroken. This proud con- 
sciousness enables us to look to the future with confidence." 
But, because of this confidence, and "the conviction that it is 
also our duty to make certain that the bloody struggle be not 
protracted for a single day beyond the moment" when it could 
be closed with honor, the Chancellor had "not waited until 
to-day to take a step to further the ideas of peace." 

Supported by the consent of all duly authorized persons in the 
empire, and by consent of all our allies acting in concert with us, 
I sent on the night of October 4-5, through the mediation of Swit- 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 179 

zerland, a note to the President of the United States in which I 
requested him to take up the bringing about of peace and to com- 
municate to this end with all the belligerent States, 

The note will reach Washington to-day or to-morrow. It is di- 
rected to the President of the United States because he, in his 
message to Congress January 8, 1918, and in his later proclamations, 
particularly in his New York speech of September 27, proposed a 
program for a general peace which we can accept as a basis for nego- 
tiations. 

I have taken this step not only for the salvation of Germany 
and its allies, but of all humanity, which has been suffering for 
years through the war. 

I have taken it also because I believe the thoughts regarding the 
future well-being of the nation which were proclaimed by Mr. 
Wilson are in accord with the general ideas cherished by the new 
German Government and with it the overwhelming majority of our 
people. 

Eesting on his firm faith in a "great and true people, a 
people capable of every devotion and upon their glorious armed 
power," the Chancellor awaited "the outcome of the first 
action" which he had "taken as the leading statesman of the 
Empire. Whatever this outcome may be, I know it will find 
Germany firmly resolved and united either for an upright peace 
which rejects every selfish violation of the rights of others, or 
for a continuance of the struggle for life and death to which 
our people would be forced, without our own fault, if the answer 
to our note of the Powers opposed to us should be directed, by a 
will to destroy us. 

"I do not despair over the thought that this second alterna- 
tive may come. I know the greatness of the mighty power yet 
possessed by our people, and I know that the incontrovertible 
conviction that they were only fighting for our life as a nation 
would double these powers. 

"I hope, however, for the sake of all mankind, that the 
President of the United States will receive our offer as we 
meant it. Then the door would be opened to a speedy, honor- 
able peace of justice and reconciliation for us as well as for 
our opponents." 



180 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

In the opinion of our countrymen the offer was not worthy 
of consideration, but should be rejected at once. It was an 
attempt, now that the Hindenburg Line has been smashed in 
every sector from Dixmude to St. Mihiel, to transfer the strug- 
gle from the western front to the council table, from the battle- 
field to diplomatic negotiation. Then, if no peace were made, 
and it surely would not be, the German Emperor, with his army 
rested, and a new Hindenburg Line constructed, could once 
more plunge into war. Why were not the President's fourteen 
points, which at last had made such a deep impression in Ger- 
many, accepted as a "basis for negotiations" in January, 1918 ? 
Because, when the German armies began their offensive in 
March the Emperor was sure they would fight their way to 
Paris and the [North Sea before our country could lend the 
Allies a helping hand. 

Erom one end of the country to the other arose the demand 
for no armistice, nothing but unconditional surrender. The 
whole press of the country joined in the demand. "Peace, yes, 
but only that kind of peace dictated by the Allies." "It is use- 
less for the Central Powers to talk of peace while their talons 
still clutch the lands which they have grasped." "We are at 
war with the most murderous lot of outlaws that has ever dis- 
graced the earth. They must pay for the hellish crimes they 
have committed." "There can be no safe peace but a peace 
written with the sword." "Absolute and complete surrender, 
with no German allowed at the councils, other than as a crim- 
inal at the bar, ought to be the only terms upon which the Allies 
will halt fighting." "Let us beware of calling a halt to listen 
to empty talk which is intended to flatter and dupe. The proper 
course was taken with Bulgaria." "The fact is that Germany 
can have peace, and have it now, on the same terms as Bul- 
garia." "Absolute surrender is the sine qua non for peace, the 
condition precedent to the consideration of terms." "Talk of 
peace from the Kaiser is momentous news. But, except as 
news, it is of no importance. We do not want to talk to the 
Kaiser. Erom him we want one thing first, unconditional sur- 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 181 

render, and what happens afterward we will decide for our- 
selves." "The German armies must lay down their arms before 
peace talk hegins. The democratic world has the chance now 
to rid itself of Hohenzollernism. If this generation does not 
seize this opportunity, it will deserve the condemnation of pos- 
terity. Let there he no ^next war.' " 

In France the press was of the same mind. "Germany wishes 
to stop the war the moment she is going to be beaten and knows 
it," said Figaro. "Let us suppose the offer is accepted. Imme- 
diately in Germany there would be a delirium of joy. The 
people are electrified, and the Kaiser has taken them into his 
hands. The humiliation of having demanded peace would dis- 
appear rapidly. He becomes the hero of heroes. He has re- 
sisted a world coalition." 

"We must not be misled by appearances," said the Journal. 
"The enemy offers to negotiate on the basis of President Wil- 
son's peace program. There is no discussion between conqueror 
and conquered. Beaten on all fronts and facing the menace of 
being completely vanquished, but not definitely conquered, she 
wishes to save what is left of her military prestige and materials 
in arms. She wishes to represent herself as having asked for 
peace out of consideration for humanity." "An armistice is 
not possible at the point at which we now are," said UHomme 
Libre. "We would not be satisfied without reparation for the 
past and guarantees for the future. Maximilian is silent on 
these two important points." " 'Admit as a basis' is vague," 
said the Temps. "Germany only invokes President Wilson's 
principles to make us let fall our arms. Then, when the fight- 
ing has ceased, when the German troops have regained their 
breath, when the Imperial Government has become popular and 
strong, the German diplomats will undermine and overthrow 
one by one the pretended bases of negotiation." "The cornered 
beast," said the Journal des Dehats, "draws in its claws and 
offers us its blood-stained paw. We shall keep our program 
of restitution, reparation, guarantees." 

The German note having been sent, and the speech of the 



182 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Chancellor made, the Emperor, in a proclamation, announced 
the peace offer to the army on October 6. 

For months past the enemy, with enormous exertions and almost 
without pause in the fighting, has stormed against your lines. 
During weeks of the struggle, often without repose, you have had to 
resist a numerically far superior army. Therein lies the greatness 
of the task which has been set for you and which you are fulfilling. 
Troops of all German States are doing their part and are heroically 
defending the Fatherland on foreign soil. Hard is the task. 

My navy is holding its own against the united enemy naval forces 
and is tm.waveringly supporting the army in its difficult struggle. 

The eyes of those at home rest with pride and admiration on the 
deeds of the army and the navy. I express to you the thanks of 
myself and the fatherland. 

The collapse of the Macedonian front has occurred in the midst 
of the hardest struggle. In accord with our allies I have resolved 
once more to offer peace to the enemy, but I will only extend my hand 
for an honorable peace. We owe that to the heroes who have laid 
down their lives for the Fatherland, and we make that our duty to 
our children. 

Whether arms wiU be lowered is a question. Until then we must 
not slacken. We must, as hitherto, exert all our strength unwearily 
to hold our ground against the onslaught of our enemies. 

The hour is grave, but, trusting in your strength and in God's 
gracious help, we feel ourselves to be strong enough to defend our 
beloved Fatherland. 

All eyes at home and abroad now turned to the President. 
That the offer would be promptly and vigorously rejected was 
confidently predicted and expected, because it asked for an 
armistice that would not he granted, because Germany had not 
accepted the program outlined by the President, but merely 
offered to use it as a "basis for peace negotiations," because 
this was an invitation to talk peace, and because the President, 
in his speech on September 27, had said, "no peace shall be 
obtained by any kind of compromise or abatement of the prin- 
ciples we have avowed as the principles for which we are fight- 
ing." Instead of a summary rejection of the offer, and a 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 183 

demand for unconditional surrender, Secretary Lansing asked 
questions. 

I have the honor to acknowledge on behalf of the President your 
note of October 6^ inclosing a communication from the German 
Government to the President, and I am instructed by the President 
to request you to make the following communication to the Imperial 
German Chancellor: 

Before making reply to the request of the Imperial German 
Government, and in order that that reply shall be as candid and 
straightforward as the momentous interests involved require, the 
President of the United States deems it necessary to assure him- 
self of the exact meaning of the note of the Imperial Chancellor. 
Does the Imperial Chancellor mean that the Imperial German 
Government accepts the terms laid down by the president in his 
address to the Congress of the United States on the 8th of January 
last, and in subsequent addresses, and that its object in entering 
into discussion would be only to agree upon the practical details of 
their application? 

The President feels bound to say with regard to the suggestion 
of an armistice that he would not feel at liberty to propose a cessa- 
tion of arms to the Governments with which the Government of the 
United States is associated against the Central Powers so long as 
the armies of those Powers are upon their soil. 

The good faith of any discussion manifestly would depend upon - 
the consent of the Central Powers immediately to withdraw their 
forces everywhere from invaded territory. 

The President also feels that he is justified in asking whether the 
Imperial Chancellor is speaking merely for the constituted authority 
of the empire who so far conducted the war. He deems the answer to 
these questions vital from every point of view. 

While the answer of the President was still unknown, the 
request of Germany was discussed in the Senate. All who 
spoke were for a relentless prosecution of the war, for the un- 
remitting use of force until the enemy made an unconditional 
surrender. Said one: 

' The President has very definitely stated that it would be impossible 
to negotiate with Germany until the German people have established 
a Government that believed in honesty. That has not been done. 
The same Government that brought about this war, that depended 



184 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

■upon militarism, that violated treaties witli Belgium and other weak 
peoples, is still in existence. The President of the United States, I 
am satisfied, will still hold that the German people have not come 
within the requirements of negotiation in the establishment of an 
honest Government. 

The proposal of Prince Maximilian [said another] simply begs 
for an armistice for the purpose of entering upon a discussion. That 
is a mere trap to divide and separate the Allies. When Germany- 
disbands her army, or when that army is conquered in the field, it 
will be time enough to consider terms of peace. 

To hear about the German Government being concerned about 
bloodshed, or express the desire to avoid further bloodshed, is the 
supreme joke of the century, the grimmest piece of irony I have 
seen perpetrated in this war [said a third]. A nation which sprang 
like a tiger at the throats of an unoffending and unsuspecting civili- 
zation, which destroyed not one nation, but other nations, especially 
small nations, and caused the river and streets and fields to run red 
with innocent blood, now insults the intelligence of the world by 
pretending that it is very much concerned about the shedding of 
blood. 

A trail of fire and blood from the Rhine to Berlin should be 
the course our armies should take. And when our armies have 
reached Berlin, there we will tell them what the terms of peace will 
be. 

We want to assure the American people that we will not commit the 
sacrilege of dishonoring our dead soldiers by thinking of peace 
until our army has entered Berlin. 

Let us [said a fourth] leave this matter to the Commander-in- 
chief of our armies over there. Marshal Foch; let Germany, through 
her military authorities, propose to him to lay down their arms 
and ask for an armistice. In other words, let the Germans do as 
the Bulgarians have done, and say to the Allies, '^We will lay down 
our arms; we will evacuate this territory, and we will submit to 
the dictates of the allied Governments in this matter of peace." 

A fifth, offered a resolution which was sent to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations. 

Be it resolved by the Senate of the United States, the House of 
Representatives concurring : 

That there shall be no cessation of hostilities and no Armistice 
until the Imperial German Government shall disband its armies 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 185 

and surrender its arms and munitions, together with its navy, to 
the United States and her allies in this war; 

That before any armistice shall be considered the Imperial German 
Government shall unreservedly consent to the principles of repara- 
tion declared as terms of peace by our allies; 

That it will pay in damages the cost of rebuilding and recon- 
structing aU the cities and villages destroyed by its armies,, and 
restore to fertility the lands devastated by it; 

That it will repay every dollar and the value of all property exacted 
from the people of any territory invaded by it; 

That it will make proper compensation and allowance for every 
crime committed by its armies contrary to the laws of warfare and 
humanity, whether on land or sea; 

That it will return to France, Alsace and Lorraine and the in- 
demnity exacted from her in 1870; 

And that it further accepts all the conditions laid down by the 
President in his address of Jan. 8, 1918. 

When, therefore, the answer of the President was made 
public, not a few of the Senators were greatly disappointed that 
it was not a flat rejection of everything the Chancellor had 
requested. 'Not were they alone in their disappointment. "Let 
us hope," wrote William Howard Taft, "that the President has 
not taken a false step. He has not answered Germany as it 
was hoped by the American and Allied people he would. His 
dialectic queries are, of course, intended to show by Germany's 
answers that she is not sincere. He thus wishes to deprive the 
Kaiser of an opportunity to rouse his people to a ^last ditch' 
struggle to avoid annihilation." Was it not dangerous to invite 
acceptance of points which might need amendment because of 
the changed situation since January 8, 1918? "Why should 
we ask who is making the inquiry ? Do wo not know it is the 
Kaiser tbrough a minister whose past liberalism he is using as 
a cloak to fool his own people and ourselves ? . . . Our gallant 
troops at the front, and those of our Allies shedding their blood 
so freely in the greatest battle in the world's history, should 
not have their high purpose to fight through to victory and 
Berlin chilled by any hesitation as to the goal we seek." 

The press of the country in general took the position that the 



186 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

President had met the German peace offensive with a counter 
offensive. He had simply shifted the issue back to Berlin and 
left the German Government to get out, as best it could, of the 
trap so carefully set for the United States and her Allies. 
"President Wilson has matched General Foch's military success 
with a diplomatic triumph." "In dealing with the German 
peace offensive President Wilson has employed the same tactics 
that Poch used in breaking the German military offensive — a 
counter-offensiva" "Ten thousand words of amplification could 
add naught to this incomparably effective response. It argues 
nothing, it promises nothing, but, serenely and without the least 
bluster of rhetorical phrase, it hamstrings the Kaiser's horse." 
"This time the Hun Government has been outmaneuvered. 
Since it has chosen, like Hindenburg and Ludendorff, to resort 
to subterfuges and indirect attack, the President, like Foch and 
Pershing, has answered his adversary in kind ; he has ad£)pted 
'tactics' rather than point-blank fire." The reply had prevented 
Prince Max from turning to the German people and saying, 
" 'You see, we offered America peace on her own terms and she 
has refused them. I have exposed the insincerity of her prin- 
ciples. I have revealed the purpose of the Allies. You see 
now it is to destroy the German people. Therefore fight on.' 
That was a shrewd thrust. But the President has parried it." 
Such journals as expressed disappointment said: "If the 
nation expected that the President would return, as the answer 
to^ Germany's peace proposals, two words, unconditional sur- 
render, it will be disappointing. Apparently the time to pro- 
claim that ultimatum (in the opinion of the President) has 
not yet come." "To deny that the American people will be 
deeply disappointed at the President's first step in response to 
the note of the new Imperial Chancellor would be to deny a 
phenomenon of nature." "America feels that there should be 
nothing that savors, even remotely, of diplomatic weakening. 
Unfortunately the President's note of inquiry is likely to be 
so construed." "It goes without saying that the reply is not 
what we have all expected and hoped for. ... It is the part of 



PEACE OFFENSIVES ISf 

wisdom^ however, to conclude tliat the President is right, know- 
ing more than we can know." 

Octoher 12 a wireless from iNauen, seemingly the reply of 
the German Government to the President's note, was picked up 
in Prance and forwarded to Washington. President Wilson 
was then in the Metropolitan Opera House, at 'New York City, 
attending a concert for the benefit of the Queen Margherita 
Pund for Blinded Italian Soldiers, for the day had been Italy 
Day at the Altar of Liberty. A newspaper man brought a copy 
to the President's Secretary, Mr. Tumulty, who handed it to 
the President, who read: 

The German Government has accepted the terms laid down by 
President Wilson in his address of January 8, and in his subsequent 
addresses on the foundation of a permanent peace of justice. Con- 
sequently its object in entering into discussion would be only to 
agree upon practical details of the application of these terms. The 
German Government believes that the Governments of the powers 
associated with the Government of the United States also take the 
position taken by President Wilson in his address. 

The German Government, in accordance with the Austro-Hun- 
garian Government, for the purpose of bringing about an armistice, 
declares itself ready to comply with the proposition of the President 
in regard to evacuation. The German Government suggests that 
the President may occasion the meeting of a mixed commission for 
making the necessary arrangements concerning the evacuation. 

The present German Government, which has undertaken the re- 
sponsibility for this step toward peace, has been formed by con- 
ferences and in agreement with the great majority of the Reichstag. 
The Chancellor, supported in all his actions by the will of this 
majority, speaks in the name of the German Government and of 
the German people. 

SOLE, 
State Secretary of Foreign Office. 

Against this request for a mixed commission to arrange for 
evacuation, the whole country protested vigorously. From one 
end of it to the other came the cry, "no armistice," "uncon- 
ditional surrender." Self's answer was held to be no surrender, 
but a move to avoid surrender. An armistice, it was said, 



188 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

purchased at the price of mere evacuation of invaded territory, 
would be a fine bargain for Germany but a foolish one for the 
Allies. To permit the Hun to retire to his bloody lair still a 
belligerent v^as unthinkable. His arms must be stacked on the 
battlefield. There must be a transfer of ammunition to the 
Allies, a surrender as complete as that of Bulgaria. What kind 
of terms did Bismarck grant when France asked an armistice 
of three weeks in 18Y1 ? "The immediate surrender of the 
twenty-five forts around Paris with all their war supplies ; the 
garrison of Paris to lay down their arms as prisoners of war; 
the immediate payment of 200,000,000 francs." 

The President asked for whom Prince Maximilian was 
speaking, for he had already said, "We cannot take the word 
of the present rulers of Germany as a guarantee unless sup- 
ported by such conclusive evidence of the will and purpose of 
the German people themselves as other peoples of the world 
would be justified in accepting." Have we, it was asked, any 
such evidence ? Was not what Solf calls "the German Govern- 
ment" created by an Imperial decree? Solf is very careful to 
omit the word Imperial, and for the first time in a note from 
the Foreign Office the "Imperial German Government" is not 
mentioned. But is there any reason to believe that there is any 
change in the German system which would prevent the Em- 
peror revoking that decree? Coming from an honest Govern- 
ment such a reply as Germany has made might be accepted as 
an unconditional surrender. But coming from the German 
Government with its record of atrocious crimes, and its wanton 
defiance of the laws of God, man, and humanity, this offer of 
surrender, without guarantees, is another scrap of paper. Un- 
less the German people themselves destroy the autocratic power 
which has plunged the world in war, and may do so again, the 
Allied armies must go on with the work of destroying that 
power on the battlefields of Prauce, Belgium and Germany. 
Who will give bonds for Germany ? Who feels safe to rely on 
her word ? Who is sure "that her official liars and wreckers of 
treaties, who can be restored to power overnight, will not be 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 189 

running ruthless again before a negotiated peace can be carried 
into effect ?" 

N'ewspapers in Paris pointed out tbat the German Constitu- 
tion had undergone no change; that if the Government was 
responsible to the people it was also responsible to the Emperor ; 
that Foch was the proper man to decide whether there should 
or should not be an armistice, and what should be the terms; 
that when Germany, in 1914, sought the neutrality of France 
she demanded as a guarantee of that neutrality the German 
occupation of Toul and Verdun. "We must not undertake 
anything," said UEclair, "that savors of negotiation. The 
military must announce the conditions of the suspension of 
arms. One single man must speak — Foch." Germany, said 
Les Temps, seems to think the French and British conquered 
like herself, and the President an arbitrator intervening to put 
everything right. Instead of promising to withdraw her troops, 
and abstain from devastation, Germany calmly asks a mixed 
commission where the conquered invader would speak as an 
equal. There was no mixed commission in 1871 when Bis- 
marck imposed an armistice on France. "This Reichstag which 
is spoken about, but never allowed to speak, is the same that- 
voted preparation for the war, voted for the war, and voted the 
peace dictated to the Russians and Rumanians." "The idea of 
a representative commission denotes a desire to negotiate on an 
equal footing," said the Matin. "There are only two persons 
in an armistice, the conqueror and the conquered. The one 
orders, the other obeys." 

London scouted the idea of an armistice. Since President 
Wilson stated his fourteen points, said The Times, rivers of 
blood have soaked into the soil of Belgium and France. The 
ravages of Attila and even those of the earlier stages of the 
German invasion have been cast into the shade. Yet the four- 
teen points Germany accepts make no provision for a single one 
of her manifold crimes, nor for the punishment of the master 
criminals who inspired them. "Before President Wilson ac- 
cepts th§ j-ole of intermediary, now thrust upon him, we trust 



190 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

lie will see fit to remind the German Chancellor that each and 
all of these problems must be faced." Slaughter of men and 
women on the Leinster and the Hirano Maru, the German re- 
fusal to exchange prisoners, and the wanton devastation by the 
retreating German armies in ISTorthern France served but to 
strengthen the demand for no leniency, for no armistice. To 
all this, said the Dispatch, the answer is "Get out ! ITo arrange- 
ments are necessary. Men who believe in God cannot bargain 
with the fiends who sank the Leinster." 

October 10 while the Leinster, a mail packet steamer plying 
between England and Ireland, was crossing the Irish Sea with 
six hundred and eighty-seven passengers and a crew of seventy, 
she was struck by two torpedoes and sank in fifteen minutes. 
ISTo warning was given. Upwards of four hundred persons, of 
whom one hundred and thirty-five were women and children, 
were drowned. The Hirano Maru was a Japanese steamer 
homeward bound from an English port with two hundred paa- 
sengers. When three hundred miles south of Ireland she was 
torpedoed and in a few minutes sank, with all on board, save 
such as were able to jump into the sea. !N"earby was an Ameri- 
can destroyer, and hearing the sound of the explosion her 
captain hurried to the scene and picked up thirty survivors. 
A British freighter, on October 10, brought to one of our ports 
twenty soldiers and sailors, all that were left of two hundred 
and fifty on board the United States steamer Ticonderoga, tor- 
pedoed early in the month in mid-Atlantic. Seven of her 
eight life boats were destroyed by shell fire. 

All these new atrocities were duly noticed by the President 
in his reply to the German note. 

The unqualified acceptance by the present German Government 
and by a large majority of the Eeichstag of the terms laid down by 
the President of the United States of America in his address to 
the Congress of the United States on the eighth of January, 1918, 
and in his subsequent addresses justified the President in making 
a frank and direct statement of his decision with regard to the 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 19I 

conmiimication of the German Governinent of the 8th and 12th of 
October, 1918. 

It must be clearly understood that the process of evacuation and 
the conditions of an armistice are matters which must be left to the 
judgment and advice of the military advisers of the Government 
of the United States and the Allied Governments, and the President 
feels it his duty to say that no arrangement can be accepted by the 
Government of the United States which does not provide completely 
satisfactory safeguards and guarantees of the maintenance of the 
present military supremacy of the armies of the United States and 
the Allies in the field. 

He feels confident that he can safely assume that nothing but 
this will also be the judgment and decision of the Allied Govern- 
ments. 

The President feels that it is also his duty to add that neither 
the Government of the United States nor, he is quite sure, the 
Governments with which the Government of the United States is 
associated as a belligerent will consent to consider an armistice so 
long as the armed forces of Germany continue the illegal and in- 
humane practices which they still persist in. 

At the very time that the German Government approaches the 
Government of the United States with proposals of peace its sub- 
marines are engaged in sinking passenger ships at sea, and not the 
ships alone, but the very boats in which their passengers and crews 
seek to make their way to safety ; and in their present enforced . 
withdrawal from Flanders and France the German armies are pur- 
suing a course of wanton destruction which has always been regarded 
as in direct violation of the rules and practices of civilized warfare. 
Cities and villages, if not destroyed, are being stripped of all they 
contain not only but often of their very inhabitants. 

The nations associated against Germany cannot be expected to 
agree to a cessation of arms while acts of inhumanity, spoliation and 
desolation are being continued which they justly look upon with 
horror and with burning hearts. 

It is necessary, also, in order that there may be no possibility of 
misunderstanding, that the President should very solemnly call the 
attention of the Government of Germany to the language and plain 
intent of one of the terms of peace which the German Government 
has now accepted. It is contained in the address of the President 
delivered at Mount Vernon on the Fourth of July last. 

It is as follows: "The destruction of every arbitrary power any- 
where that can separately, secretly and of its single choice disturb 



192 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

the peace of the world, or, if it cannot be presently destroyed, at 
least its reduction to virtual jmpoteney." 

The power which has hitherto controlled the German nation is 
of the sort here described. It is within the choice of the German 
nation to alter it. The President's words just quoted naturally 
constitute a condition precedent to peace, if peace is to come by the 
action of the German people themselves. The President feels bound 
to say that the whole process of peace will, in his judgment, depend 
upon the definiteness and the satisfactory character of the guar- 
antees which can be given in this fundamental matter. It is indis- 
pensable that the Governments associated against Germany should 
know beyond a peradventure with whom they are dealing. 

The President will make a separate reply to the Eoyal and Im- 
perial Government of Austria-Hungary. 

With this reply the country was delighted. Peace by negotia- 
tion which threatened, it was said, is now far removed. The 
reply will be read by the American people with a deep sigh of 
relief. It is not a note but a decision. An armistice is de- 
clined; the Kaiser and his autocratic government must go; 
U-boat frightfulness on the seas must stop ; burning and pillag- 
ing the towns of Belgium and France must stop, definite and 
satisfactory guarantees must be given, and when all these con- 
ditions have been met the question of an armistice will be re- 
ferred to the Allied and American commanders in the field. 
It is an American answer, given by a great American, and gives 
voice to the deep convictions of the whole American people. It 
will stir the blood of the American people and command their 
instant assent by acclamation. It is an ultimatum to a defeated 
power. Only two courses are open to Germany; submission, 
which means present surrender; or resistance, which means 
ultimate destruction. Senators approved the answer ; the AUies 
approved, and the whole world waited to see what would be the 
effect on Germany. 

Turkey meantime had joined her allies in an appeal for an 
armistice. The note, received October 12 by the Spanish Min- 
ister of Foreign Affairs from the Charge d' Affaires of Turkey 



PEACE OFFENSIVES 193 

in Madrid, was delivered by the Spanish Ambassador at Wash- 
ington to Secretary Lansing October 14. 

The undersigned, Charge d'Affaires of Turkey, has the honor, 
acting upon instructions from his Government, to request the Eoyal 
Government to inform the Secretary of State of the United States 
of America, by telegraph, that the Imperial Government requests 
the President of the United States of America to take upon himself 
the task of the reestablishment of peace; to notify all belligerent 
States of this demand and to invite them to send delegate pleni- 
potentiaries to initiate negotiations. It (the Imperial Government) 
accepts as a basis for the negotiations the program laid down by 
the President of the United States in his message to Congress of 
January 8, 1918, and in his subsequent declarations, especially the 
speech of September 27. 

In order to put an end to the shedding of blood the Imperial 
Ottoman Government requests that steps be taken for the immediate 
conclusion of a general armistice on land, on sea, and in the air. 



CHAPTER X 

THE ARMISTICE 

Atjsteia-Httngart now seemed to be fast going to pieces. 
Discontent, war weariness, demands for' peace, signs of revo- 
lution were everywhere. Hungary was in ferment ; the Czecho- 
slovaks had broken away from the Empire, and the Emperor 
Charles, alarmed by the prospect before him, proclaimed the 
reorganization of Austria-Hungary on a federal basis. 

To my faithful Austrian peoples: 

Since I have ascended the throne I have tried to make it my duty 
to assure to all my peoples the peace so ardently desired and to 
point the way to the Austrian peoples of a prosperous development 
unhampered by obstacles which brutal force creates against intellect- 
ual and economic prosperity. 

The terrible struggles in the world war have thus far made the 
work of peace impossible. The heavy sacrifices of the war should 
assure to us an honorable peace, on the threshold of which, by the 
help of God, we are to-day. 

We must, therefore, undertake without delay the reorganization 
of our country on a natural, and therefore solid, basis. Such a 
question demands that the desires of the Austrian peoples be har- 
monized and realized. 

I am decided to accomplish this work with the free collaboration 
of my peoples in the spirit and principles which our Allied monarchs 
have adopted in their offer of peace. 

Austria must become, in conformity with the will of its people, 
a confederate state in which each nationality shall form on the 
territory which it occupies its own local autonomy. 

This does not mean that we are already envisaging the union of 
the Polish territories of Austria with the independent Polish State. 

The city of Trieste with all its surroundings shall, in conformity 
with the desire of its population, be treated separately. 

194 



THE ARMISTICE 195 

This promise of federalization came too late. The day it 
was made puhlic in our country the President answered the 
Austro-Hungarian note of October 7, and the Czecho-Slovak 
declaration of independence, published in Paris October 18, 
was printed in full in our newspapers. Mr. Lansing's reply, 
as handed to the Swedish Minister, reads : 

The President deems it his duty to say to the Austro-Hungarian 
Government that he cannot entertain the present suggestions of that 
Government because of certain events of utmost importance which, 
occurring since the delivery of his address of the 8th of January 
last, have necessarily altered the attitude and responsibility of the 
Government of the United States. Among the fourteen terms of 
peace which the President formulated at that time occurred the 
following : 

''X. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the 
nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded 
the freest opportunity of autonomous development." 

Since that sentence was written and uttered to the congress of 
the United States the Government of the United States has recog- 
nized that a state of belligerency exists between the Czecho-Slovaks 
and the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires and that the Czecho- 
slovak national council is a de facto belligerent government clothed 
with proper authority to direct the military and political affairs of_ 
the Czecho-Slovaks. 

It has also recognized in the fullest manner the justice of the 
nationalistic aspirations of the Jugo-Slavs for freedom. 

The President is, therefore, no longer at liberty to accept the mere 
"autonomy" of these peoples as a basis of peace, but is obliged to 
insist that they, and not he, shall be the judges of what action on the 
part of the Austro-Hungarian Government will satisfy their aspira- 
tions and their conception of their rights and destiny as members 
of the family of nations. 

!From Amsterdam and Switzerland there now came reports 
of what would be the answer of Germany to the President. The 
reply, it was said, has been delivered to the Swiss Government. 
Germany agrees to evacuate Belgium, but will require months 
in which to do so; protests against the charge of cruelty, de- 
clares she was forced into submarine warfare by the Allied 



196 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

blockade, and denies responsibility for the loss of women and 
children on passenger boats, but in the interest of peace will 
stop such attacks. October 21 what purported to be the text 
of the reply was received in London by wireless. October 22 
the Swiss Charge delivered to Mr. Lansing "the original Ger- 
man text" and "an English translation of the communication 
in question as transmitted to the Swiss ForeigTi Office by the 
German Government." This official translation reads: 

In accepting the proposal for an evacuation of the occupied 
territories the German Government has started from the assumption 
that the procedure of this evacuation and of the conditions of an 
armistice should be left to the judgment of the mihtary advisers and 
that the actual standard of power on both sides in the field has to 
form the basis for arrangements safeguarding and guaranteeing this 
standard. The German Government suggests to the President to 
bring about an opportunity for fixing the details. It trusts that the 
President of the United States will approve of no demand which 
would be irreconcilable with the honor of the German people and 
with opening a way to a peace of Justice. 

The German Government protests against the reproach of illegal 
and inhimian actions made against the German land and sea forces, 
and thereby against the German people. For the covering of a 
retreat, destructions will always be necessary, and are, in so far, 
permitted by international law. The German troops are under the 
strictest instructions to spare private property and to exercise care 
for the population to the best of their ability. Where transgres- 
sions occur, in spite of these instructions, the guilty are being 
punished. 

The German Government further denies that the German navy 
in sinking ships has ever purposely destroyed lifeboats with their 
passengers. The German Government proposes, with regard to all 
these charges, that the facts be cleared up by neutral commissions. 
In order to avoid anything that might hamper the work of peace, 
the German Government has caused orders to be dispatched to all 
submarine commanders precluding the torpedoing of passenger ships, 
without, however, for technical reasons, being able to guarantee that 
these orders will reach every single submarine at sea before its 
return. 

As the fundamental conditions for peace, the President char- 
acterizes the destruction of every arbitrary power that can separately. 



THE ARMISTICE 197 

secretly and of its own single choice disturb tlie peace of the world. 
To this the German Government replies : Hitherto the representation 
of the people in the German empire has not been endowed with 
an influence on the formation of the Government. The constitution 
did not provide for a concurrence of the representation of the people 
in decision on peace and war. These conditions have just now 
undergone a fundamental change. The new Government has been 
formed in complete accord with the wishes of the representation of 
the people, based on the equal, universal, secret, direct franchise. 
The leaders of the great parties of the Eeichstag are members of this 
Government. In future no Government can take or continue in 
office without possessing the confidence of the majority of the Reichs- 
tag. The responsibility of the Chancellor of the empire to the 
representation of the people is being legally developed and safe- 
guarded. The first act of the new Government has been to lay 
before the Eeichstag a bill to alter the constitution of the empire so 
that the consent of the representation of the people is required for 
decisions on war and peace. The permanence of the new system is, 
however, guaranteed not only by constitutional safeguards, but also 
by the unshakable determination of the German people whose vast 
majority stands behind these reforms and demands their energetic 
continuance. 

The question of the President, with whom he and the Governments 
associated against Germany are dealing, is therefore answered in a 
clear and unequivocal manner by the statement that the offer of_ 
peace and an armistice has come from a Government which, free from 
arbitrary and irresponsible influence, is supported by the approval of 
the overwhelming majority of the German people. 

At once there arose from our countrymen the cry, ''unsatis- 
factory, evasive." The ink and paper, it was said, are new ; but 
it is the same old handwriting. Item by item it reveals its in- 
sincerity. It is mere bosh, a new mask through which Germany 
looks at her conquering enemies. The voice has been given a 
new modulation, but behind the mask and the voice there bas 
been no change. It is altogether unsatisfactory, so wholly un- 
satisfactory and hypercritical, evasive and contentious that 
there is nothing in it to promote peace. Why continue the cor- 
respondence? Why not on to Berlin and finish the job? It 
was an attempt to weaken the will of the Allies by peace talk. 



198 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Three courses, in the opinion of the people, were before the 
President from which to choose. He might return no answer, 
a course he would not pursue. He might return a curt answer, 
saying that the time had come to treat with Foch. He might, 
while standing firmly by his terms, return such an answer as 
would leave the way open for further discussion. What Mr. 
Lansing did reply was this : 

Having received the solemn and explicit assurance of the German 
Government that it unreservedly accepts the terms of peace laid 
down in his address to the Congress of the United States on the 
8th of January, 1918, and the principles of settlement enunciated in 
his subsequent addresses, particularly the address of the 27th of 
September, and that it desires to discuss the details of their applica- 
tion, and that this wish and purpose emanate not from those who 
have hitherto dictated German policy and conducted the present war 
on Germany's behalf, but from ministers who speak for the majority 
of the Reichstag and for an overwhelming majority of the German 
people; and, having received also the explicit promise of the present 
German Government that the humane rules of civilized warfare will 
be observed both on land and sea by the German armed forces, the 
President of the United States feels that he cannot decline to take 
up with the governments with which the Government of the United 
States is associated the question of an armistice. 

He deems it his duty to say again, however, that the only armi- 
stice he would feel justified in submitting for consideration would 
be one which should leave the United States and the Powers asso- 
ciated with her in a position to enforce any arrangements that may 
be entered into and to make a renewal of hostilities on the part of 
Germany impossible. The President has, therefore, transmitted his 
correspondence with the present German authorities to the govern- 
ments with which the Government of the United States is associated 
as a belligerent, with the suggestion that, if those governments are 
disposed to effect peace upon the terms and principles indicated, their 
military advisers and the military advisers of the United States be 
asked to submit to the governments associated against Germany the 
necessary terms of such an armistice as will fully protect the interests 
of the peoples involved and insure to the associated governments the 
unrestricted power to safeguard and enforce the details of the peace 
to which the German Government has agreed, provided they deem 
such an armistice possible from the military point of view. Should 



THE ARMISTICE 199 

such terms of armistice be suggested, their acceptance by Germany- 
will afford the best concrete evidence of her unequivocal acceptance 
of the terms and principles of peace from which the whole action 
proceeds. 

The President would deem himself lacking in candor did he not 
point out in the frankest possible terms the reason why extra- 
ordinary safeguards must be demanded. 

Significant and important as the constitutional changes seem to 
be which are spoken of by the German Foreign Secretary in his 
note of the 20th of October, it does not appear that the principle 
of a Government responsible to the German people has yet been 
fully worked out or that any guarantees either exist or are in con- 
templation that the alterations of principle and of practice now 
partially agreed upon will be permanent. Moreover, it does not 
appear that the heart of the present difficulty has been reached. It 
may be that future wars have been brought under the control of the 
German people, but the present war has not been; and it is with 
the present war that we are dealing. It is evident that the German 
people have no means of commanding the acquiescence of the mili- 
tary authorities of the Empire in the popular will; that the power 
of the King of Prussia to control the policy of the Empire is unim- 
paired; that the determining initiative still remains with these who 
have hitherto been the masters of Germany, Feeling that the whole 
peace of the world depends now on plain speaking and straightfor- 
ward action, the President deems it his duty to say, without any^ 
attempt to soften what may seem harsh words, that the nations of 
the world do not and cannot trust the word of those who have hither- 
to been the masters of German policy, and to point out once more 
that in concluding peace and attempting to undo the infinite injuries 
and injustices of this war the Government of the United States 
cannot deal with any but veritable representatives of the German 
people, who have been assured of a genuine constitutional standing 
as the real rulers of Germany. If it must deal with the military 
masters and the monarchical autocrats of Germany now, or if it is 
likely to have to deal with them later in regard to the international 
obligations of the German Empire, it must demand not peace 
negotiations, but surrender. Nothing can be gained by leaving this 
essential thing unsaid. 

While all the nations waited to see what action the Allies 
would take, news came that Baron Burian had been dismissed 
and Count Julius Andrassy had become Austro-Hungarian 



200 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Minister of Foreign Affairs; that General Ludendorff had re- 
signed; that the Reichstag had placed the military under the 
civil power, and that Germany, October 27, had answered 
President Wilson's note. 

The German Government has taken cognizance of the reply 
of the president of the United States, The President knows 
the far-reaching changes which have taken place and are being 
carried out in the German constitutional structure. The peace 
negotiations are being conducted by a government of the people, 
in whose hands rests both actually and constitutionally, the authority 
to make decisions. The military powers are also subject to this 
authority. The German Government now awaits the proposal for an 
armistice which is the first step towards a peace of justice as described 
by the President in his pronouncements. 

Ere another twenty-four hours had passed the President re- 
ceived the reply of Austria-Hungary to his note of October 
nineteenth. 

In reply to the note of the President, Mr. Wilson, to the Austro- 
Hungarian Government, dated October 18 of this year, and about 
the decision of the President to take up, with Austria-Hungary 
separately, the question of armistice and peace, the Austro-Hungarian 
Government has the honor to declare that it adheres both to the 
previous declarations of the President and his opinion of the rights 
of the peoples of Austria-Hungary, notably those of the Czecho- 
slovaks and the Jugo-Slavs, contained in his last note. Austria- 
Hungary having thereby accepted all the conditions which the 
President has put upon entering into negotiations on the subject of 
armistice and peace, nothing, in the opinion of the Austro-Hungarian 
Government, longer stands in the way of beginning those negotia- 
tions. The Austro-Hungarian Government therefore declares itself 
ready to enter, without waiting for the outcome of other negotiations, 
into negotiations for a peace between Austria-Hungary and the 
Entente States, and for an immediate armistice on all fronts of 
Austria-Hungary, and begs the President, Mr. Wilson, to take the 
necessary measures to that effect. 

A semi-official note made public, in Vienna, the day this note 
was sent, explained why Au&tria-Hungary acted independently. 



THE ARMISTICE 201 

Austria was obliged to conform to the methods of President 
Wilson, who had successively replied to the three members of the 
Triple Alliance, and act apart from her allies. The Monarchy, 
which has formally adopted President Wilson's line of action, shares 
his opinion, as was shown by the Emperor's manifesto to the peoples, 
which, in proclaiming the federalization of the Monarchy, exceeded 
President Wilson's program. 

However, the complete reorganization of Austria can only be 
carried out after an armistice. If Austria-Hungary has declared 
herself ready to enter into negotiations for an armistice and for 
peace, without awaiting the result of negotiations with other States, 
that does not necessarily signify an offer of a separate peace. It 
means that she is ready to act, separately in the interests of the 
reestablishment of peace. 

Coming so close after the German note, and written in a 
tone so different, that of Austria was hailed as most important. 
The words, "without awaiting the results of other negotiations," 
seemed to indicate, it was held hj some, that Vienna had broken 
with Berlin. Others claimed that this action of Austria- 
Hungary sealed the doom of Germany. It was the beginning 
of the end, a complete surrender, and though the terms might 
not be such as were demanded of Bulgaria, the Allies would- 
surely see to it that they secured the use of the territory, rail- 
ways and means of communication of Austria-Hungary against 
Germany should that Empire continue the war. With the Aus- 
trian armies withdrawn from the western front, with her terri- 
tory open to invasion from the Austrian side, with the Italians 
free to move against her, Germany, at best, could continue the 
struggle single handed but a short time. Undoubtedly the reply 
to her by the Allies would be that she might learn their terms 
for an armistice by sending commissioners to Marshal Foch. 
Still others saw no sign of a break, because the action of Austria 
had aroused no resentment in Berlin. Behind the note was a 
hidden snare ; the Allies must be careful. 

What terms would be offered by the Supreme War Council 
of the Allies, which at once gathered at Versailles, was next 
a subject for speculation. That they would include the hand- 



202 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

ing over of the German fleet and submarines, the cession of 
Metz and Strassburg and the occupation of Cologne, Mannheim 
and Coblenz as a guarantee of Germany's acceptance of the 
terms was fully expected. Bethmann-HoUweg when, on July 
31, 1914, he asked France to remain neutral, demanded the 
German occupation of Toul and Verdun, as a guarantee of 
French neutrality. The same treatment should now be meted 
out to Germany. 

How serious was the situation in Austria-Hungary, and how 
pressing the need of peace was made clear by a note addressed 
by Foreign Minister Count Andrassy to Secretary Lansing ask- 
ing for his good offices with the President. 

Immediately after having taken direction of the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs and after the dispatch of the official answer to your 
note of October 18, 1918, by which you were able to see that we accept 
all the points and principles laid down by President Wilson in his 
various declarations and are in complete accord with the efforts of 
President Wilson to prevent future wars and to create a league of 
nations, we have taken preparatory measures in order that Austrians 
and Hungarians may be able, according to their own desire and 
without being in any way hindered, to make a decision as to their 
future organization and to rule it. 

Since the accession to power of Emperor King Charles his immov- 
able purpose has been to bring an end to the war. More than this 
is the desire of the sovereign of all the Austro-Hungarian peoples, 
who acknowledge that their future destiny can only be accomplished 
in a pacific world by being freed from all disturbances, privations and 
sorrows of war. 

This is why I address you directly, Mr. Secretary of State, pray- 
ing that you will have the goodness to intervene with the President) 
of the United States in order that the interest of humanity, as in 
the interest of all those who live in Austria-Hungary, an immediate 
armistice may be concluded on all fronts and for an overture that 
immediate negotiations for peace wiU follow. 

If reports could be believed Hungary was on the point of 
revolt. In the Unterhaus at Budapest Count Karolyi, leader of 
the Eadical Socialists, had moved a resolution calling for a 
separate peace, dissolution of the alliance with Germany, recog- 



THE ARMISTICE 203 

nition of the independence of the South Slavonians, a Hun- 
garian King to reside in Budapest and the resignation of the 
Werkele ministry. Vienna was said to be threatened with 
famine, the authorities powerless and the law no longer en- 
forced. Affairs in Germany, it was asserted, were daily grow- 
ing worse, riots had occurred in various parts of the country, 
and want of raw materials was hindering the production of 
munitions. Socialists and Radicals were insisting that the 
President's demands concerning autocratic government be ac- 
cepted. When a Socialistic member of the Reichstag said, "The 
baneful influence of the Kaiser must be removed," the members 
of his party cried "abdicate." One story, attributed to Ger- 
man court circles, ran, that the Kaiser had said: "I will not 
abandon my sorely tried people; but if necessary, I am ready 
to become something like a hereditary president of the German 
republic like the Kings of England, Belgium, Italy." On an- 
other occasion, speaking to some members of the Reichstag, he 
was reported to have said : "In any case, if the moment comes 
when the interest of Germany demands it, I should abdicate 
and would do so without hesitation, but the moment does not 
seem to have come yet." A manifesto said to have been issued, 
by a section of the Social Democrats reads: "If the necessity 
arises and the hour comes, the organized masses of labor, with 
strong middle class support, will remove every hindrance to 
peace which does not voluntarily yield to the will of the huge 
majority of the people," which was understood to mean if the 
Kaiser did not abdicate he would be deposed. According to 
one rumor abdication was to be considered an accomplished 
fact. According to another he was persisting in refusing to 
abdicate. A third was to the effect that he had gone to head- 
quarters at the front and was refusing to take any notice of 
the doings of the government at Berlin. Yorwaerts, the Social- 
ist newspaper, the Munich Neueste Nachrichten, the Frank- 
furter Gazette, called on him to show his courage by abdicating. 
The Vossische Zeitung of Berlin declared that Philipp 
Scheidermann, Secretary of State without portfolio, had told 



204 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

tlie Imperial Chancellor that the Emperor must leave the 
throne. 

Every day brought astonishing news. Germany it was re- 
ported had again addressed the President assuring him that 
all necessary steps had been taken to meet his stand that peace 
could not be made with an autocratic government; that the 
State Department had declined to give out the note because it 
did not change the situation, and was of no public importance ; 
that the real reason was a fear that, if made public, it would 
help to impress the false idea that the German Government 
had been reformed and that the German people were in con- 
trol. October 31 it was reported that Great Britain had rer- 
ceived peace proposals from Turkey, that an armistice between 
Turkey and the Allied Powers had been signed at midnight 
on October 30 at Mudras on the island of Lemnos; that the 
terms included free passage of the Allied fleet through the 
Dardanelles, occupation of the forts on the Dardanelles and 
on the Bosphorus and immediate repatriation of all Allied 
prisoners. Austria, too, had collapsed and her commander 
on the Italian front had applied to General Diaz for a cessa- 
tion of hostilities. 

According to report the dual monarchy was falling to pieces. 
Count Karolyi had presented to Emperor Charles his plan 
for an independent Hungary, which called for abolition of the 
parliamentary system ; guarantees of a free political Hungary ; 
recall of the Hungarian troops; abandonment of the German 
alliance; dissolution of the Hungarian lower house and new 
elections by both male and female voters; suppression of the 
censorship and establishment of freedom of speech, of the press, 
and of public meetings; recognition of the new states of 
Ukraine, Poland, Czechoslovakia, the South Slavs and German 
Austria. Charles rejected the plan; but the revolutionary 
movement, it was said, was going forward. The soldiers had 
replaced their imperial cockades with revolutionary colors, the 
imperial symbols had been removed from buildings, and im- 
perial proclamations torn up, and Budapest was in the hands 



THE ARMISTICE 205 

of the revolutionary troops. At Prague the Czech National 
Committee had taken over the local government; the Berlin- 
Vienna railway where it entered Czecho-Slovakia had been cut ; 
the German State of Austria had been created by act of the 
German ISTational Council of Austria, and demanded admis- 
sion to the peace negotiations, and the Croatian Parliament had 
declared the separation of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia from 
Hungary. Confusion was everywhere, reports stated. Mobs 
had looted the stores and attacked the banks at Budapest; a 
provisional soldiers' and officers' council had been set up in 
Vienna, and the people were parading the streets shouting: 
"Down with the Hapsburgs." By proclamation, it was re- 
ported, the Council had announced the taking over of all power, 
had declared democracy was sacred, and urged the workers and 
citizens to go back to their work and the soldiers to their 
barracks. The State Council had adopted the colors of Bat- 
tenburg, red, white, red, as those of the new Austrian State; 
an Imperial Decree had ordered the fleet and all naval prop- 
erty delivered to the South Slav J^ational Council; the Em- 
peror had commissioned Archduke Joseph to approach all 
political chiefs in an attempt to settle the political crisis-; 
Count Andrassy had resigned, and the Emperor had ordered? 
all officers of the army to place themselves in the service of 
the armies of the newly organized governments. These gov- 
ernments were five in number: The Czecho-Slovakian compris- 
ing the northern part of the old Empire with Prague as the 
Capital; German Austria, on the west, comprising the greater 
part of old Austria with Vienna as the capital; the South 
Slav State embracing all the southwestern part of the Empire, 
save Italia Irredenta, with Agrane as its capital; Hungary, 
a part of the monarchy with Budapest as its capital, and Ger- 
man Bohemia embracing the northern and western parts of 
Bohemia with Reichenberg as its capital city. 

ITovember 2, General Diaz in person delivered to the Aus- 
trian commander the Allies' terms for an armistice with his 
country, and King Boris of Bulgaria, after a reign of just 



206 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

one month, announced his abdication, and a peasant govern- 
ment was quickly formed. On the afternoon of Sunday, 
ISTovemher 3, the terms of the Allies having been accepted by 
Austria, General Diaz signed, and they went into effect at 
three o'clock on the afternoon of Monday, and Germany, de^ 
serted by the last of her allies, stood alone awaiting the terms 
of an armistice the Allies and the United States were prepar- 
ing at Versailles. 

The Supreme War Council of the Allies, charged with pre- 
paring these terms, gathered informally at Versailles on Octo- 
ber 28, and after a series of such meetings, held its first formal 
sitting on N^ovember 1 and finished its task I^ovember 4. 
"According to an official report received this evening," Mr. 
Lansing announced, "the terms of the armistice to be offered 
to Germany have just been agreed to unanimously and signed 
by the representatives of the Allies and the United States in 
Paris. The report further states that diplomatic unity has been 
completely achieved under conditions of utmost harmony." 

Terms having thus been agreed on it became the duty of 
the President to notify Germany of the fact, for it was through 
the President that the Allies had been informed of Germany's 
desire for an armistice. N^ovember 5, therefore, Mr. Lansing 
requested the Swiss Minister "to notify the German Govern- 
ment that Marshal Foch has been authorized by the Govern- 
ment of the United States and the Allied Governments to re- 
ceive properly accredited representatives of the German Gov- 
ernment and to communicate to them the terms of an armi- 
stice." Mr. Lansing further stated that the President was "in 
receipt of a memorandum of observations by the Allied Gov- 
ernments" on the correspondence between the Government of 
the United States and that of Germany on the subject of axi 
armistice; that the President was "in agreement with the in- 
terpretation set forth in the last paragraph of the memoran- 
dum," and that the whole memorandum was as follows : 

22 — The allied Governments have given careful consideration to 
the correspondence which has passed between the President of the 



THE ARMISTICE 207 

United States and the German Government. Subject to the quali- 
fications -which follow, they declare their willingness to make peace 
with the Government of Germany on the terms of peace laid down 
in the President's address to Congress of January, 1918, and the 
principles of settlement enunciated in his subsequent addresses. 

They must point out, however, that Clause 2, relating to what is 
usually described as the freedom of the seas, is open to various 
interpretations, some of which they could not accept. They must, 
therefore, reserve to themselves complete freedom on this subject 
when they enter the peace conference. 

Further, in the conditions of peace, laid down in his address to 
Congress of Jan. 8, 1918, the President declared that invaded terri- 
tories must be restored as well as evacuated and freed. The allied 
Governments feel that no doubt ought to be allowed to exist as to 
what this provision implies. By it they understand that compensa- 
tion will be made by Germany for aU damage done to the civilian 
population of the Allies and their property by the aggression of 
Germany by land, by sea, and from the air.^ 

The terms of the armistice were not made known, nor was 
it expected they would be before they had been accepted or 
rejected by the German Government. There were those who be- 
lieved that the conditions, while less severe than were imposed 
on Turkey and Bulgaria, would still amount to unconditional: 
surrender. With her last ally gone, her army crumbling under 
the blows of Foch, Haig and Pershing, her people longing for 
peace and even calling for the abdication of the Emperor, Ger- 
many must realize the uselessness of continuing the war and 
accept the terms bitter as they were. There were those who held 
that the military situation on the front, bad as it was, did not 
yet call for unconditional surrender. The German armies were 
beaten but not crushed; they still fought on enemy soil; their 
morale was not gone and though the military power was said 
to be subject to the civil power they might not give up the 
fight Indeed, it was reported that on Sunday, ISTovember 3> 
a meeting was held around the statue of Bismarck in Berlin 

*The number "22" is that of the memorandum, each of those adopted 
by the conference being numbered serially. 



208 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

and resolutions adopted protesting against a humiliating peace 
and favoring a continuation of the war. 

N'ovember 6 dispatches from Amsterdam and Berlin, re- 
ceived in London, announced that: "A German delegation to 
conclude an armistice and take up peace negotiations has left 
for the western front," and that the members were General 
von Gruenell, military delegate to The Hague peace confer- 
ences ; General von Winterf eld, one time military attache at 
Paris, and Admiral von Hintze, late Secretary of Foreign 
Affairs. 

About one o'clock in the afternoon of ISTovember 7 news- 
papers, the country over, that subscribed to the United Press 
Association news service, announced on their bulletins and in 
extra issues of their papers that a cable dispatch reported that 
the German commissioners had signed the terms of an armi- 
stice at two o'clock in the afternoon French time, or nine o'clock 
in the morning Washington time. 

As the good news spread over the country in city after 
city all work and business was suspended while the people went 
wild with joy. Workshops, offices, factories, stores, homes were 
deserted, whistles and automobile horns were blown, bells were 
rung, and crowds delirious with joy and carrying flags marched 
shouting about the streets. By three o'clock the Secretary of 
State had been heard from and announced that the armistice 
had not been signed, and that the German representatives would 
not meet Marshal Foch until five o'clock French time, or noon 
Washington time. 'No attention was paid by the excited 
crowds to this official statement and the cheering, shouting, 
parading, "whistle blowing went on until well into the night. 

When at last the truth came out it appeared that about half 
past twelve on the morning of ISTovember 7 Marshal Foch 
received from the German High Command ;i dispatch which 
read : 

The German Government, having been informed through the 
President of the United States that Marshal Foch had received 
powers to receive accredited representatives of the German Govern- 



THE ARMISTICE 209 

ment and communicate to them conditions of an armistice, the 
following plenipotentiaries have been named by it: 

Mathias Erzberger, General H. K. A, Winterfeld, Count Alfred 
von OberndorfF, General von Gruenell, and Naval Captain von Salow. 

The plenipotentiaries request that they be informed by wireless of 
the place where they can meet Marshal Foch. They will proceed 
by automobile, with subordinates of the staff, to the place thus 
appointed. 

The German Government would congratulate itself in the interests 
of humanity if the arrival of the German delegation on the Allies' 
front might bring about a provisional suspension of hostilities. 

On l^ovember 7, at 10:25 a. m., Marshal Focli replied': 

If the German plenipotentiaries desire to meet Marshal Foch and 
ask him for an armistice they will present themselves at the French 
outposts by the Chimay-Fourmies-La-Capelle-Guise road. Orders 
have been given to receive them and conduct them to the spot fixed 
for the meeting. 

A German wireless dispatch received November 7 at one 
o'clock in the afternoon announced that: 

The German plenipotentiaries for an armistice leave Spa to-day. 
They will leave here at noon and reach at 5 o'clock this afternoon 
the French outposts by the Chimay-Fourmies-La-Capelle-Guise road. 
There will be ten persons in all, headed by Secretary of State 
Erzberger. 

A wireless dispatch, in German, was received a few min- 
utes before two o'clock: 

German general headquarters to the Allied general headquarters. 
The supreme German command to Marshal Foch. From the German 
outposts to the French outposts our delegation will be accompanied 
by a road-mending company to enable automobiles to pass the La 
Capelle road, which has been destroyed. 

Another wireless dispatch, in German, was received at six 
o'clock : 

The German supreme command to Marshal Foch: By reason of 
delay the German delegation will not be able to cross the outpost 
line until between eight and ten o'clock (5 p. m. Washington time) 
to-night, at Haudroy, two kilometers northeast of La Capelle. 



210 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

On receipt of tlie message orders were issued to cease firing 
at three o'clock on the afternoon until further orders. This, 
it was now said, might have been the basis for the false dis- 
patch, sent out by the United Press Association, that the armi- 
stice had been signed. As stated by the General Manager of 
the United Press the facts were, that at 11:56 o'clock in the 
forenoon a message was received by the Western Union Tele- 
graph Company, was at once sent to the Censor, was returned 
at 11 :59 o'clock with his "0. K.," was immediately sent out 
to the newspapers, and that the message as received read: 

Paris 
TJnipress, N. Y. 

Urgent. Armistice AlHes Germany signed eleven morning. Hos- 
tilities ceased two afternoon. Sedan taken by Americans. 

In spite of the official denial by the Secretary of State, the 
General Manager of the Association in the United States re- 
fused to be convinced. The Association, he said, was standing 
by its message and held it to be authentic until proved false, 
and cited the instance of the landing of our troops at Vera 
Cruz in 1914, The United Press received the news, the !Navy 
Department denied it, and three hours later received the offi- 
cial confirmation. It was quite possible, he said, that follow- 
ing the signing of the armistice the censorship was tightened 
until the time came to announee it simultaneously in all the 
allied countries. A report having spread that the cable cen- 
sorship was holding up dispatches which might confirm the 
false message to the United Press, the chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Public Information announced that "any such re- 
port is absolutely untrue. 'No dispatch bearing upon any 
phase of the armistice negotiations is being stopped or even 
halted in the New York office. The channel is wide open." 

Prom the United Press Association then came the statement 
that the announcement of the signing of the armistice was made 
by Admiral Wilson at Brest ; that he acted in good faith ; and 
that a later message saying the news could not be confirmed 



THE ARMISTICE 211 

was probably delayed as it did not arrive until almost twenty- 
four hours after the first. Admiral Wilson promptly assumed 
the responsibility and said : ''The statement of the United Press 
relative to the signing of an armistice was made public from 
my office on the basis of what appeared to be official and authori- 
tative information. I am in a position to know that the United 
Press and its representatives acted in perfect faith, and that 
the premature announcement was the result of an error for 
which the agency was in no wise responsible.". 

On his return to the United States, from Brest, the Presi- 
dent of the United Press Association made a statement: 

The bulletin which Admiral Wilson gave out, and which The 
United Press carried, was not a "rumor" or a "report." It was a 
bulletin furnished to the Admiral as official, and so given to us. 

It was given to us for publication by the ranking active United 
States naval officer in France. There was no more ground for 
doubting Admiral Wilson's source of news than there would have 
been for doubting the statement had it come from Marshal Foch. 

It was about ten o'clock in the morning (French time) when I 
first learned of a rumor that the armistice had been signed. The 
report was current in both French and American Army circles in 
Brest when I arrived that morning to embark for the United StatesJ^ 

I put in the entire day endeavoring to confirm the report. But it 
was not until about four o'clock in the afternoon that Admiral 
Wilson was notified on what he stated was official authority, and 
on what I know he had every reason to believe was official authority, 
that the armistice had been signed. 

The announcement had been made by the local Brest newspaper 
and the civilians, soldiers and sailors had their celebration under 
full headway before I was able to get from Admiral Wilson personally 
a copy of his written announcement and his personal assurance that 
the bulletin was official. 

The Admiral then sent his personal aid with me to assist me in 
filing the dispatch, as I do not speak French fluently. 

It was a fact that all Brest, including operators and censors, 
accepted the news as official, and was celebrating at the time that 
caused my wire to pass the French censorship at Brest unchallenged. 

Upon my .return to the United States I learned that no news had 
been published here of the fact that celebrations of the signing of 



212 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

the armistice took place on November 7 at practically all the army and 
naval bases on the French coast. 

I was also surprised to learn that nothing had reached here by 
cable concerning the fact that all Paris had the report of the armi- 
stice being signed. At the American Luncheon Club meeting in 
Paris on that day the toastmaster arose, and, with Admiral Benson 
seated on one side of him and American Consul General Thackera 
on the other, announced on what he said was the authority of the 
American Embassy that the armistice had been signed. All the 
celebration on that day was by no means on this side of the Atlantic. 

Nothing much has yet been said as to the source of Admiral 
Wilson's information. This is not for me to discuss. Nothing has 
been said as to the reason for the report current on that day through- 
out France. No explanation has yet been offered of how the report 
reached the American Embassy in Paris as official. Neither has 
any explanation been offered yet as to what became of the first 
German armistice delegation, headed by von Hintze, which was 
reported to have reached the French lines on November 6, and which 
then disappeared from the news, being supplanted by the Erzberger 
plenipotentiaries. Some of these matters will be cleared up after 
peace is signed. 

That the people might not be deceived a second time, Secre- 
tary Lansing announced that he was "requested and author- 
ized by the President to state, that no information reaching 
this government concerning the armistice negotiations in France 
has been vs^ithheld ; that any statement to the contrary is abso- 
lutely false, and that as soon as a definite decision in regard 
to the armistice has been reached it will immediately be made 
public by the Government." 

Dispatches from Rotterdam now announced that the Kaiser 
was not to abdicate. After long discussion the leaders of the 
parties in the Reichstag had so decided. Socialists, it was 
reported, held that although President Wilson had not, in so 
maiiy words, demanded that the Hohenzollerns be swept away, 
nevertheless, the Kaiser was looked on abroad as the head and 
front of German militarism; that militarism had been swept 
away, and therefore the Kaiser should go with it. The Cen- 
trals, Liberals, and Progressives answered that the Kaiser was 



THE ARMISTICE 213 

the symbol of German unity, that this unity was seriously 
threatened, and that in the interest of German unity he should 
remain, and so it was decided that he should, l^ow it was a 
report that the managing ComLtnittee of the Socialist Party 
through Philipp Scheidermann had sent an ultimatum to Chan- 
cellor Maximillian; that it had demanded the right of public 
assembly; that the military and police must be ordered ''to 
exercise great reserve" ; that the Prussian Government be at 
once brought into conformity with the views of the majority in 
the Reichstag; and that before noon of ISTovember 8 the Em- 
peror abdicate and the Crown Prince renounce all claims to 
the throne. To this demand the Kaiser was reported to have 
answered, through the Minister of the Interior, that he would 
not voluntarily abdicate, that he could not at the moment of 
peace assume the terrible responsibility of giving up the Father- 
land to anarchy. I^evertheless, the hour had come, and the 
newspapers of !Rovember 10 announced that the Kaiser had 
abdicated; that the Crown Prince had renounced his claims; 
that a Pegent had been appointed, that Brunswick had re- 
volted; that the reigning Grand Duke Ernest Augustus, son- 
in-law of the Kaiser, had abdicated his throne and that the^ 
Chancellor had issued this decree : 

The Kaiser and King has decided to renounce the throne. The 
Imperial Chancellor will remain in office until the questions con- 
nected with the abdication of the Kaiser, the renouncing by the 
Crown Prince of the thrones of the German Empire and of Prussia, 
and the setting up of a regency have been settled. 

For the regency he intends to appoint Deputy Ebert as Imperial 
Chancellor, and he proposes that a bill be brought in for the establish- 
ment of a law providing for the immediate promulgation of general 
suffrage and for the constitutional German National assembly which 
shall settle finally the future form of government of the German 
nation and of those peoples which might be desirous of coming 
within the Empire. 

Germany, if reports were true, was in ferment. Day after 
day dispatches from Amsterdam told of rioting, mutiny and 



214 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

revolution. !Now it was said that the sailors on the battleships 
Kaiser and Schleswig-Holstein at Kiel had mutinied, and shot 
such officers as withstood them, had threatened to blow up the 
vessels if attacked, had been joined by some infantry sent to 
restore order and had displayed the red flag. IsTow it was re- 
ported that the garrison at Kiel had refused to march to the 
harbor, that a Workmen's and Soldiers' Council had been 
formed at Kiel; that the Governor had been forced to yield 
to their demands; that the revolutionary troops at Kiel were 
wearing red cockades and carrying red banners and had seized 
every warship in the harbor, taken control of railroads and 
street cars, occupied Kiel Castle and raised over it the red flag; 
that the Council of Workmen and Soldiers had taken over the 
government of the city, and that the movement had spread 
to Schleswig; that the greater part of the submarine crews 
had joined the revolutionists, and that practically the whole 
German navy was in revolt; that Kiel, Wilhelmshaven, Heli- 
goland, Borkum, Cuxhaven, were in the hands of the revo- 
lutionists; that Bremerhaven, Tilsit, Hamburg, Hanover, 
Cologne, Magdeburg, had joined in the revolt; that a great 
meeting of the people in Munich, called by the Socialist leaders, 
had demanded that the Kaiser abdicate and the Crown Prince 
renounce his claim to the throne ; that an armistice be signed ; 
that Bavaria he declared a republic and that there should be 
no war in future save for defense of the country; that the 
warships at Kiel had gone to Flensburg; that Prince Henry 
had fled from Kiel in an automobile carrying a red flag, and 
that six German battleships anchored outside of Flensburg 
had trained their guns on the mutineers. 

The German armistice delegates meantime had reached the 
French outposts near La Capelle during the night of ISTovember 
Tth ; had presented their credentials and, blindfolded, had been 
escorted within the lines and comfortably lodged for the night. 
At nine o'clock on the morning of the 8th they were received 
by Marshal Foch at his headquarters in a railroad car. Their 
credentials having been examined and approved Mathias Erz- 



THE ARMISTICE 215 

berger, so the report said, announced that the government had 
been informed by President Wilson that Marshal Foch had been 
authorized to make known to them the Allies' terms for an 
armistice, and that they were empowered to consider the terms 
and if accept-able to sign the armistice. Marshal Foch then 
read the terms; Erzberger asked for an immediate suspension 
of hostilities. Foch refused, whereupon a request was made 
for time to send the test of the armistice to German headquar- 
ters, and seventy-two hours, beginning at eleven o'clock French 
time on l^ovember 8, were granted. 

The seventy-two hours were to expire at eleven o'clock, 
French time, on the morning of Monday, JSTovember 11. A 
courier was at once ordered to depart, but the German batteries 
were heavily shelling the road he was to take from La Capelle. 
It was then proposed by the German delegates that he go by 
airplane. Marshal Foch consented provided the German High 
Command agreed that it would not be fired at and a wireless 
message was sent to Spa, from which came the reply: "We 
grant free passage to the French airplane bringing our courier. 
We are issuing orders that it shall not be attacked by any of 
our machines. For the purpose of recognition it should carry' 
two white flags very clearly marked." Despite this message, 
and repeated requests, the German batteries continued to fire 
on the road until late in the afternoon when a message from 
Spa announced that orders to cease firing had been given and 
that Captain Helldorf, the courier, was at liberty to come by 
land. Almost immediately the firing on the road stopped and 
shortly after three o'clock he departed. Spa was reached as 
quickly as the condition of the road would permit, and at 
2 :45 o'clock on the morning of Monday, ISTovember 11, the 
Department of State announced: "The armistice has been 
signed. It was signed at five o'clock a. m. Paris time, and 
hostilities will cease at 11 a. m. this morning, Paris time." 

The Kaiser and the Crown Prince were reported to be 
fugitives in Holland. On Saturday morning, November 9, 
so the dispatch said, the Emperor signed a letter of abdica- 



216 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

tion ; the Crown Prince renounced his claim a few hours later, 
and about half past seven on Sunday morning father and son 
accompanied by a party of ten crossed the Dutch frontier at 
Eysden, made their way to Maastricht and found refuge in 
the home of their friend, Count Bentinck, the Chateau Mid- 
dacht in the town of De Steeg near Utrecht. This was soon 
contradicted and the new version ran that the Kaiser left, the 
train before Eysden was reached because of shots fired at his 
car, and reached the station by automobile; that the fugitives 
were held on the train near the frontier to await the decision 
of the Dutch Government. A later report had it that about 
half after seven o'clock Sunday morning ten travel-stained 
automobiles were seen to come along the Vise-Maastricht 
road and pass through the little border-line town of Mouland 
only to be stopped by the Dutch frontier guards at the barbed 
wire fence to await the arrival of the custom authorities, who 
were greatly astonished to find ten automobiles awaiting ad- 
mission into Holland. It was a long wait while the question 
of octroi was being settled, an inspection of the seats and cars 
made, and the many formalities settled. The automobiles it 
was decided could not pass, whereupon the late Kaiser, the 
former Crown Prince, General von Hindenburg and all the 
members of the party walked to the little railroad station at 
Eysden. Another long wait followed before the train reached 
the station, and was at once entered, and the blinds pulled 
down and the party seen no more. No one knew where the 
train was to go. The Hague must be communicated with in 
consequence of which the party did not set off until after nine 
o'clock on Monday morning. Meantime the Empress and more 
generals arrived at Eysden. The destination of William Ho- 
henzollern was then given as the castle of Count Bentinck 
at Amerongen. 

This story in time proved false. General von Hindenburg 
was at the army Headquarters ; nobody knew where the Crown 
Prince was; indeed, report said he had been killed by a soldier; 
the Empress did not come to Eysden. Long afterwards, in 



THE ARMISTICE 217 

Januaiy, 1919, the Dutch Premier Ruys de Beerenbranck 
gave his version of the entrance of the Kaiser. On Sunday, 
ISTovemher 10, he said, a long train of automobiles arrived 
at Eysden. Officers of the rank of generals alighted and de- 
manded of the sergeant on guard duty that he permit the 
passage of the Kaiser. He refused; whereupon one of the 
generals said : " 'Everything has been arranged with the Dutch 
Government and the Kaiser is expected.' The sergeant, a mere 
non-commissioned officer, allowed himself to be overcome by the 
war lord of high degree and the Kaiser entered Holland. At 
nine o'clock that morning on my return from church, I was 
informed by my colleague, M. Van Karneback, Minister of For- 
eign Affairs, that he had received, at seven o'clock, a telegram 
from our representative at Brussels, M. Van Hollenboven, 
transmitting a request that the Kaiser be allowed to pass the 
frontier. Almost at the same hour the commander-in-chief 
of our army received a notification from the post commander 
of Maastricht of the event that had occurred at dawn, that is 
the Kaiser's entrance. We were face to face with a fait 
accompli. This unexpected arrival forced us to seek a place 
to lodge the visitor. After much ado and a great deal of tele^ 
phoning we found it on the property of Count Bentinck, who 
has been subjected to a lot of vexation in consequence, the 
breaking off of long-standing friendships with Englishmen and 
annoyances of all kinds." 

Early Monday morning the Kaiser and a personal suite of 
sixteen officers started by train from Eysden and early in the 
afternoon reached Maarn. There he was met by Count Ben- 
tinck and under military escort went to the castle at Amerongen 
which had been placed at his disposal at the request of the 
Dutch Government. 

The Crown Prince and a suite crossed the frontier on the 
12th, went to Maastricht, was taken to the house of the Gov- 
ernor and then interned as a German officer. In time he was 
sent to the little island of Wieringen in the Zuyder Zee. 

Scarcely was the former Kaiser safe on the soil of the Nether- 



218 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAIfi 

lands than popular demands for his extradition began to be 
made. M. Clemenceau was reported to have asked the Dean 
of the faculty of law of the University of Paris for an opinion 
on the question of demanding the extradition of William Ho- 
henzoUem ; the Temps could condone the reception of William 
when no one knew what was happening in Germany, when 
refusal might mean he would be shot at a frontier post. But 
for a country which owed its existence to the triumph of the 
Allies to shelter the man who caused the death of millions was 
nothing short of an outrage. Place him on a boat, conduct 
him to the Belgian frontier and the Allies would know what 
they ought to do with him. The Dutch legation in Paris made 
public a note from the President of the Netherlands Council 
of Ministers to the Chamber of Deputies stating that the ex- 
Emperor had entered the country as a private personage; that 
the refuge granted him was of the sort granted all refugees; 
that no exception could be made in his case because of his 
former position; that the Netherlands government could not 
believe that foreign governments whose subjects had so often 
enjoyed the benefit of refuge in that country would refuse to 
respect national tradition or forget that they themselves had 
given protection to dethroned monarchs. 

That William had really abdicated was seriously doubted. 
So far as foreign governments were concerned he was still 
Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia. No official infor- 
mation of his abdication had been received. A report was set 
afloat that to end the discussion the German Government in- 
tended to publish his decree of abdication ; but it did not do so. 
In the opinion of the London Daily Mail William undoubtedly 
regarded himself as Emperor and King. So far as the world 
knew there was no abdication document bearing his signature, 
nothing but the statement of Prince Max in which he used the 
words "thron verzich" and not the word "abdankung." 

In England the late Kaiser had been three times indicted 
for murder in connection with the sinking of the Lusitama, 
the Zeppelin air raids, and the shelling of defenseless coast 



THE ARMISTICE 219 

towns. Law officers of tlie Crown, it was reported, were there- 
fore considering the question, of extradition and were working 
in cooperation with the French. Even the German revolution- 
ary press was by this time demanding a tribunal to pass sen- 
tence on the Hohenzollerns. 

Towards the close of ISTovember Mr. Lloyd-George, in an 
election speech at ^Newcastle, stated that the British Govern- 
ment had consulted some of the greatest jurists of the king- 
dom and that each one of them was of the opinion that the 
former German Emperor was guilty of an indictable offense 
for which he ought to be held responsible. In the opinion of 
the French and British people the Kaiser, though living in 
a neutral country, was only awaiting an opportunity to return 
to Germany and resume the throne. He had never formally 
renounced the throne. Officers, once high in command, it was 
believed, were so directing the revolution that it must collapse, 
and thus prepare the way for a triumphant return of the Kaiser 
to Berlin. The Berlin Government, holding much the same 
opinion, is said to have sent a telegram demanding his formjal 
abdication, and that of the Crown Prince. Be this as it may 
the Berlin Government on November 30 "in order to reply to 
certain misunderstandings which have arisen with regard to the 
abdication" gave out a document signed by the Emperor on 
tbe 28th. 

By the present document I renounce forever my rights to the 
crown of Prussia and the rights to the German imperial crown. 
I release at the same time aU the officials of the German Empire, 
and Prussia, and also all officers, noncommissioned officers, and 
soldiers of the Prussian Navy and Army, and of contingents from 
confederated States, from the oath of fidelity they have taken to me 
as their Emperor, King, and supreme chief. 

I expect from them until a new organization of the German 
Empire exists that they will aid those who effectively hold the power 
in Germany to protect the German people against the menacing 
dangers of anarchy, famine, and foreign domination. 

Made and executed and signed by our own hand with the imperial 

seal at Amerongen, Nov. 28. ,rrr 

William 



220 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Nothing was said concerning abdication by the Crown 
Prince. "I have not renounced anything, and I have not signed 
any document whatever," he was reported to have said to a 
representative of the Associated Press. "However, should the 
German Government decide to form a Republic similar to the 
United States or France, I should be perfectly content to re- 
turn to Germany as a simple citizen ready tO' do anything to 
assist my country. I should even be happy to work as a laborer 
in a factory." Speaking of his flight to the Netherlands he 
said: "I was with my group of armies after the Kaiser left 
Germany. I asked the Berlin Government whether they desired 
me to retain my command. They replied negatively, and I 
could not continue to lead armies under orders of the Soldier's 
and Workmen's Council." 

That a Crown Council had been held at Potsdam to decide 
on war he positively denied. Neither his father nor he wanted 
war. People blamed him for the failure at Verdun. Twice 
he had refused to attack with the troops at his disposal. The 
third time he obeyed, and was successful for three days; but 
was not properly supported. Ludendorif was the mainspring 
of Germany's war activities. Von Hindenburg was a mere 
figurehead. 

Meantime the Kaiser had been talking. Against his vdll, 
he was reported to have said, they sent him to Norway in July, 
1914, on the eve of the opening of the war. He did not wish 
to take the voyage because of the seriousness of. the situation 
after the murder of the Arch Duke Ferdinand. But the Chan- 
cellor said to him: "Your Majesty must take this voyage in 
order to maintain peace. If your Majesty remains here, it un- 
doubtedly means war, and the world will lay to your charge 
responsibility for the war." Bethmann-Hollweg, at that time 
Chancellor, in an interview, denied that this was the object 
of the voyage. 

By this time the Netherlands Government had appointed 
a Commission to report on the status of the Kaiser, and at 
a meeting in London between M. Clemenceau, Marshal Foch, 



THE ARMISTICE 221 

tlie Italian Premier Vittorio Orlando, Lloyd-George and the 
British War Cabinet, the question of expatriation was dis- 
cussed. According to reports a demand would be made, and 
if the ISTetherlands Government refused to deliver the Kaiser 
without the consent of Germany, pressure would be brought to 
secure consent. Other matters believed to have been considered 
were extension of the armistice soon to end ; the day when the 
Peace Conference should meet ; what indemnities should be de- 
manded from Germany and Austria-Hungary that once was; 
replacement by Germany of the shipping her U-boats had de- 
stroyed ; the future of the German colonies ; and the future of 
the newly emancipated nations, Poland, Bohemia, Jugo- 
slovakia. Whatever may have been the questions discussed, the 
Allies, M. Clemenceau said on his return to Paris, had unani- 
mously agreed to them and especially as to what should be 
done with the Kaiser. 

Much the greater part of Germany was then in the hands 
of the revolutionists. Eed flags flew from the royal palace in 
Berlin and over the Brandenburg gate, the Reds were in con- 
trol of the greater part of the city, and the new Chancellor 
Ebert appealed for law and order. German guard ships, -it 
was reported, had left their stations in the Great Belt and 
the Little Belt and raised the red flag; six cruisers had joined 
the Reds and arrived at Hamburg, and the crews of four 
dreadnaughts in Kiel harbor had gone over to the revolution- 
ists. Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils had been formed in 
Aix-la-Ohapelle, Cassel, Nuremberg, Mannheim, Frankfurt, 
Miinster, Stuttgart, Cologne. Order, it was said, had been 
restored in Hamburg, and in many other towns the authori- 
ties were working in harmony with the Workmen's and 
Soldiers' Councils. 

In Berlin a People's Government for Germany was set up 
in the course of a few hours. About nine o'clock on the morn- 
ing of Saturday, ISTovember 9, a general strike began and in a 
little while thousands of workmen carrying red flags came into 
the city from the factories in the suburbs. Trains from Kiel 



222 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

brought several thousand sailors who, by order of the Work- 
men's and Soldiers' Council, went in groups and occupied the 
public buildings and street corners. Eed flags appeared every- 
where; officers, it was said, in the streets and in the barracks 
pulled off cockades, epaulettes, iron crosses; soldiers, sailors, 
workmen "fraternized," and the cry "Long live the German 
Kepublic" was heard on every hand. Towards noon a force 
of soldiers and sailors occupied the Government buildings along 
Wilhelmstrasse, and a great crowd, gathered before the Eeichs- 
tag building, was addressed by Philipp Scheidermann, who 
said : 

The Kaiser has abdicated! the dynasty has fallen! It is a great 
and honorable victory for the German people, Herr Ebert has 
received the task of forming a new Government, in which both 
sections of the Socialist Party will take part. Orders by the Gov- 
ernment are only valid when signed by Herr Ebert, and those issued 
by the Ministry of War must be countersigned by a Socialist delegate. 

A little later a red flag was raised over the Palace and an- 
other put in the window through which the Kaiser passed to 
the balcony to make his memorable speech on the opening of 
the war in August, 1914. Still later soldiers entered the build- 
ing of the Wolff Bureau, took possession and put two Social- 
ists in charge. Vorwdrts was likewise confiscated and the build- 
ing decked in red flags. 

Meantime Herr Ebert was busy setting up a government, 
and proclamations followed in rapid succession. 

As yet the terms of the armistice had not been given to the 
public. But, no sooner had the President, in the early hours 
of the morning of ITovember 11, received official notice that 
the armistice had been received, than by his order it was an- 
nounced that he would read the terms at a joint meeting of 
the Senate and House of Representatives. The hour fixed was 
one o'clock, and promptly on the hour the President took his 
stand at the speaker's desk and said: 

In these times of rapid and stupendous change it will in some 
degree lighten my sense of responsibility to perform in person the 



THE ARMISTICE 223 

duty of comnmnicating to you some of the larger circumstances of 
the situation with which it is necessary to deal. 

The German authorities, who have at the invitation of the Supreme 
War Council, been in communication with Marshal Foch, have 
accepted and signed the terms of armistice which he was authorized 
and instructed to communicate to them. These terms are as follows : 
[Having read them the President continued.] The war thus comes to 
an end; for, having accepted these terms of armistice, it will be 
impossible for the German command to renew it. 

It is not now possible to assess the consequences of this great con- 
summation. We know only that this tragical war, whose consuming 
flames swept from one nation to another until all the world was on 
fire, is at an end and that it was the privilege of our own people to 
enter it at its most critical juncture in such fashion and in such 
force as to contribute, in a way of which we are all deeply proud, 
to the great result. We know, too, that the object of the war is 
attained ; the object upon which all free men had set their hearts ; and 
attained with a sweeping completeness which even now we do not 
realize. Armed imperialism such as the men conceived who were but 
yesterday the masters of Germany is at an end, its illicit ambitions 
engulfed in black disaster. Who will seek now to revive it ? 

The text from which President Wilson read was that pre- 
pared by the Supreme War Council at Versailles. But another 
version existed, for, between the day when the first was drawn 
up, and the day when the representatives of defeated Germany 
affixed their names to the second, changes, many and im- 
portant, were made by Marshal Foeh under authority given 
him so to do. Both texts called for the stoppage of fighting 
on land, and in the air, six hours after the armistice was 
signed; for the evacuation of invaded countries, Belgium, 
France, Luxemburg, Alsace-Lorraine; for the repatriation, to 
begin at once and be finished within a fortnight, of all in- 
habitants taken from these countries; and for the surrender 
in good condition of a vast quantity of war materials, heavy 
guns, field guns, machine guns, airplanes of all sorts, fighters, 
bombers and night bombers. Mr. Wilson's text called for the 
delivery of thirty thousand machine guns, three thousand 
minenwerfers and two thousand airplanes; the Foch text for 



224 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

twenty-five thousand machine guns and seventeen hundred air- 
planes. All German territory from the boundaries of Hol- 
land, Belgium and Alsace-Lorraine to the west bank of the 
Rhine by the Wilson text was to be occupied, and the principal 
crossings at Mayence, Coblenz, Cologne, together with bridge- 
heads at these cities thirty kilometers in radius on the east bank 
of the Rhine were to be held. Along that bank was to run, 
from the frontier of Holland to the borders of Switzerland, a 
neutral zone bounded by a line drawn parallel to the river, 
and forty kilometers from it. By the Eoch text the width 
of the zone was changed and "a line drawn parallel to the 
bridgeheads and to the stream and at a distance of ten kilo- 
meters." Evacuation of the Ehineland, by the Wilson text, must 
be within "a further period of eleven days, in all nineteen 
days after the signature of the armistice." Evacuation, ac- 
cording to the Eoch text, must be finished "within a further 
period of sixteen days, in all thirty-one days after the signing 
of the armistice." Countries west of the Rhine, the Wilson 
text provided, should "be administered by the local authori- 
ties under the control of the Allied and United States armies 
of occupation." The Eoch text vested the government in the 
"local troops of occupation." By the Wilson text five thou- 
sand locomotives, fifty thousand railway cars and ten thou- 
sand motor lorries were to be delivered in good order within 
fourteen days. In the Eoch text the railway cars were in- 
creased to one hundred and fifty thousand; the motor lorries 
reduced to five thousand, and the time made thirty-one days for 
the cars and thirty-six days for the lorries. Each text required 
the German Command to reveal all mines or delayed action 
fuses on evacuated territory. Eoch gave forty-eight hours after 
the signing of the armistice in which to make known where 
were the mines and fuses. Allied and American armies in 
occupied territories might exercise the right of requisition; 
the upkeep of troops in the Rhineland, save in Alsace-Lorraine, 
was to be charged to the German Government; Allied and 



THE ARMISTICE 225 

American prisoners of war were to be repatriated but German 
prisoners were not to be released. 

Concerning affairs on the eastern front the Wilson text 
required German troops then on any territory which before 
the war belonged to Russia, Turkey or Roumania to withdraw 
within the frontier of Germany as it was on August 1, 1914. 
In the Foch text this was changed to Austria-Hungary, Turkey 
and Roumania, and German troops then on territory which 
before the war belonged to Russia must leave "as soon as the 
Allies, taking into account the internal situation of these ter- 
ritories, shall decide that the time for this has come." !]6oth 
texts require the renunciation of the treaties of Brest-Litovsk 
and Bucharest. By the Wilson text "unconditional capitula- 
tion of all German forces operating in East Africa within one 
month" was required. By the Foch text this became "evacu- 
ation" within "a period to be fixed by the Allies." There must 
be "reparation for damage done," immediate return "of the 
cash deposits in the national bank of Belgium, and of the Rus- 
sian and Roumanian gold yielded to Germany, or taken by her, 
the gold to be held in trust by the Allies until the signature 
of peace." 

Hostilities at sea must cease at once, all naval and mercan- 
tile marine prisoners in German hands must be returned with- 
out reciprocity, and according to the Wilson text, one hundred 
and sixty submarines, all cruisers and mine layers included, 
were to be surrendered. All other submarines were "to be paid 
off and completely disarmed and placed under the supervision 
of the Allied Powers and of the United States of America." 
Foch required that all submarines "now existing" be surren- 
dered with full armament and equipment in ports to be desig- 
nated ; that such as could not go to the ports be stripped of crew 
and armament and left under supervision of the Allies; that 
submarines ready for sea leave German ports as soon as notified 
of the port of delivery, and the remainder at the earliest possi- 
ble moment. All to be delivered within fourteen days after 
the signing of the armistice. Six battle cruisers, ten battle- 



226 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

ships, eight light cruisers, including two mine layers, and fifty 
destroyers of the most modern types were to he disarmed and 
interned in neutral ports or, for want of them, in ports to he 
designated hy the Allies and the United States. All other sur- 
face warships must he disarmed and placed under supervision 
of the Allies and the United States. By the Foch text vessels 
to be interned must be ready to leave German ports seven days 
after the signing of the armistice, and take such routes as might 
be given by wireless. 

The Allies and the United States might sweep up all mine 
fields laid by Germany outside her territorial waters, and where 
they were Germany must indicate. !Naval and mercantile ves- 
sels of the Allies and Associated Powers were to have free access 
to and from the Baltic, and to secure this all German forts, 
batteries and defensive works in all the entrances from the 
Cattegat into the Baltic were to be occupied by the forces of 
the Allies and the United States, and all mines and obstructions 
within and without the waters of Germany swept up "without 
any question of neutrality being raised." The blockade set 
up by the Allies was to remain unchanged, all naval aircraft 
was to be gathered and immobilized at designated bases, and 
in evacuating the Belgian coast all merchant ships, tugs and 
lighters, material for inland navigation, aircraft, arms, arma- 
ments and stores of every sort must be abandoned by Germany. 
Black Sea ports were to be evacuated, Russian warships seized 
by Germany delivered to the Allies, neutral ships released, and 
all merchant ships belonging to the Allies and Associated Pow- 
ers restored in ports to be designated. 

Though the armistice was now in force, fighting was not 
ended for all our troops. The war waged by the armies of 
Trotsky and Lenine, and the help given them by Germany made 
it necessary in 1918 for us to join the Allies in sending troops 
to Archangel and Vladivostok. In each city were great stores 
of supplies made by the labor, and bought with the money of the 
people of Great Britain, France and the United States, and 
sent thither when Russia was fighting on the side of the Allies. 



THE ARMISTICE 227 

To protect these supplies owned by tlie Allies, to prevent their 
capture by the Bolsheviki, to check the Germans advancing 
through Finland to occupy the Murman coast, to keep open a 
way of escape for our diplomatic representatives, were the 
reasons why a few thousand American soldiers were sent to 
Murmansk, to Archangel and Vladivostok. Some five thousand 
with twice as many French and British occupied a front of four 
hundred miles drawn south of Archangel for its defense. One 
point on this line, held by the Americans, was Kadish, from 
which in ISTovember they were driven by the Bolsheviki to the 
Emstu River. But just after Christmas our men, dressed in 
furs covered by a white canvas robe and cowl, to render them 
indistinguishable in the snow at a distance of a few hundred 
yards, attacked and surprised the Bolsheviki at Kadish, retook 
the place and held it. 

Ten thousand two hundred Americans were landed at Vladi- 
vostok to help the British, French and Japanese forces protect 
the stores sent from the United States, and keep open the line 
of cormnunication with the Uo-al Mountains, a line some five 
thousand miles in length. Complaint was made in the Senate 
was "an invasion of Russia" quite as bad as "the German in- 
vasion of Belgium." "Was not Russia a neutral nation," it was 
asked, "when we invaded it ? What complaint have we against 
Germany for invading helpless Belgium ? Both acts are equally 
inexcusable." In 1919 the troops were withdrawn from Arch- 
angel and in the early months of 1920 from Vladivostok. 



CHAPTEK VI 

THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 

[N'ews that the armistice had been signed was immediately 
followed by appeals to the President from Germany for sup- 
plies of food; by preparations for the speedy return of such 
of our warships and troops as were not needed abroad ; by the 
demobilization of training camps at home, and the return of 
the men to the pursuits and occupations from which they had 
been called; by a revision of the war revenue bill; by the re- 
moval of many of the restrictions imposed on the people by our 
entrance into the war; by the return of our industries from 
a war to a peace basis; and by the announcement that the 
President would go abroad and sit at the table of the Peace 
Conference. 

In the course of his speech to Congress on iNTovember 11 the 
President said that the Supreme War Council at Versailles 
had promised the peoples of Central Europe that the Allied na- 
tions would do everything in their power to supply them with 
food, and that steps would at once be taken to organize these 
efforts for relief in the same systematic manner in which they 
were organized in the case of Belgium. Germany was the first 
to call for food. 

From the I^ational Council of Women of Germany, Novem- 
ber 12, came an appeal to Mrs. Wilson. The terms of the 
armistice, the Council said, called for the surrender of a very 
large part of the rolling stock of German railways, and at the 
same time required her to feed the troops of her late enemies 
in the occupied territory. Should these requirements remain 
unchanged the women and children of Germany would die of 
hunger. Rolling stock was needed to bring food from the farms 

228 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 229 

to the cities. Food for the occupying troops must come from 
overseas. The world over women and children had been inno- 
cent sufferers of the terrible war, "but nowhere more than in 
Germany. Let it be through you, Madam, to implore our sis- 
ters in the United States of America, who are mothers like 
ourselves, to ask their government and Allied Governments to 
change the terms of the armistice so that the long suffering 
of the women and children of Germany may not end in un- 
speakable disaster." 

According to a wireless message, picked up at London, Dr. 
Solf, Foreig-n Secretary, appealed to President Wilson to in- 
tervene to mitigate "the fearful conditions existing" in 
Germany. 

Convinced of the common aims and ideals of democracy the 
German Government has addressed itself to the President of the 
United States with the request to reestablish peace. This peace 
vs^as meant to correspond with the principles the President always 
has maintained. The aim was to be a just solution of all questions 
in dispute, followed by a permanent reconciliation of all nations. 

Furthermore, the President declared he did not wish to make war 
on the German people, and did not wish to impede its peaceful de- 
velopment. The German Government has received the conditions of 
the armistice. 

After the blockade, those conditions, especially the surrender of 
means of transport and the sustenance of the troops of occupation, 
would make it impossible to provide Germany with food and would 
cause the starvation of millions of men, women and children, all 
the more as the blockade is to continue. 

We had to accept the conditions, but feel it is our duty to draw 
the President's attention, most solemnly and in all earnestness, to 
the fact that enforcement of the conditions must produce among the 
German people feelings contrary to those upon which alone the 
reconstruction of the community of nations can rest, guaranteeing 
a just and durable peace. 

The German people, therefore, in this fateful hour, address them- 
selves again to the President with the request that he use his 
influence with the Allied Powers in order to mitigate these fearful 
conditions. 



230 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Before an ofl&cial copy of this appeal readied the Department 
of State, the Swiss Minister presented a cable dispatch stating 
that the German Government requested the President to in- 
form Chancellor Ebert, by wireless, if the Government of the 
United States was ready to send foodstuffs without delay, pro- 
vided public order was maintained in Germany and an equi- 
table distribution of food guaranteed. Secretary Lansing at 
once replied that the President was ready to consider favorably 
the supplying of foodstuffs to Germany, and to take up the mat- 
ter immediately with the Allied Governments, provided he was 
assured "that public order is, and will continue to be, main- 
tained in Germany, and that an equitable distribution of food 
can be clearly guaranteed." 

The German Goverament and the German people, was the 
reply by wireless to London, have gratefully taken cognizance 
of the willingness of the President to consider favorably the 
sending of food to Germany. "Distress is urgent." The 
sender, whoever he was, Solf or Haas, believed he was not ap- 
pealing in vain to the humanitarian feelings of the President, 
and asked Mr. Lansing, "in order to save the German people 
from perishing from starvation and anarchy," to send as quickly 
as possible "to The Hague, or some other place, plenipoten- 
tiaries." American delegates could discuss with those from the 
German people "the details of how the magnanimous help of 
America could save, in time, our Fatherland from the worst. 
Perhaps the matter could be put in the hands of Mr. Hoover, 
who has rendered such great service in Belgium." The op- 
pressive conditions of the armistice ; the necessity of supplying 
the armies as they streamed home ; the scanty supply for such 
uses; the continuance of the blockade; the stoppage of navi- 
gation in the Black Sea and the Baltic ; the disturbed condition 
in the east, the message said, made the situation in Germany 
daily more unbearable. "The peril can be avoided only by 
the most speedy help." 

Another subject of complaint was a provision in the Anglo- 
Turkish treaty requiring German civilians to leave the Turkish 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABHOAD 231 

empire at once. Should this be enforced, Dr. Self was sure, 
German hospitals and asylums for the blind, and for orphans, 
^'caring principally for Armenian children, would be forced to 
close, thus causing new suffering among the Christian people." 

This appeal was followed, the next day, by another wire- 
less message to Secretary Lansing. The return of the troops 
from the west, Dr. Solf said, gave rise to the fear that in a 
little while Berlin, and other large cities, would be cut off from 
supplies of food from the interior. He, therefore, with the 
greatest anxiety, repeated his request of the day before, that 
not a moment should be lost in convening a conference, at The 
Hague, and further asked that a German commission might 
leave at once for the United States, and personally lay before 
the American Government the conditions in Germany, and ar- 
range for the purchase of necessary foodstuffs. He cherished 
the hope '^that the humanitarian feeling of the American people 
will not frustrate the possibility of saving thousands of women 
and children from death by starvation." 

Ere this was received Secretary Lansing replied, through 
the E" w'iss Minister. He would be obliged if the Minister would 
say to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the German Govern- 
ment, that the Government of the United States had received 
the radio messages addressed to the President, relative to relief 
from certain requirements imposed in the armistice with the 
Ottoman Government, and in that with the German Govern- 
ment. They would be sent to the other governments with which 
the government of the United States is associated, and to the 
Supreme War Council at Paris. Communications, such as 
these, appertaining to terms in the armistice, the Secretary 
said, "should be sent to all the Governments, and not addressed, 
alone, to the President, or the government of the United 
States," and called attention "to the fact that these communi- 
cations should be presented through established diplomatic 
channels, rather than by direct radio communication." 

That the food situation might be properly handled, Mr. 
Hoover was now dispatched to take it in charge, and sailed 



232 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

from New York on N^ovember 16. On the eve of departure, 
he took pains to explain that the belief, that our people would 
have to skimp themselves in order that the German people 
might have food, was a mistaken idea. Germany, Austria- 
Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, would be required to pay in gold 
for whatever food they received. ISTor were the needs of Ger- 
many as great as her "bread appeals" asserted. She had enough 
food, if her war rationing were continued, to have gone on fight- 
ing until next harvest. Her crops had not been failures. 

"We are not worrying about Germany," said Mr. Hoover, 
when about to sail. "She can take care of herself. We are 
worrying about the little allies who have been under the Ger- 
man yoke. They are faced by famine. We must give them 
help, and lose no time in doing so." He was going to Europe 
to discuss food measures. Of the four hundred and twenty 
million people of Europe only those of South Russia, Hungary 
and Denmark, some forty millions, had food enough to last 
until the next harvest. We had a food surplus of eighteen 
million tons, if economical. All Europe was short of cattle and 
fats, but had enough breadstuffs and vegetables to last, under 
orderly governments, for two months, and more. But some 
two hundred million people were in social disorder, a condi- 
tion which led peasants to cease marketing, and left the supply 
of the cities to depend on the restoration of order. 

From such accounts as came to us, Bolshevism seemed to 
be spreading to neutral countries. In Holland, Revolutionary 
Socialists, even in the Parliament, were demanding the abdi- 
cation of the Queen, the demobilization of the army, and that 
the troops refuse to surrender their arms, until assured of 
food supplies for themselves and their families. ^Newspapers, 
in Spain, ISTorway, Switzerland, expressed fear of the spread 
of the Red Flag movement. In Sweden, the Independent So- 
cialist journals were demanding that Workmen's and Soldiers' 
Councils be everywhere established, the army demobilized, and 
an eight-hour day adopted. 

In Germany, the old thrones were rapidly crumbling; day 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 233 

after day some ruling house went down. Prince Leopold, of 
Lippe-Detwold, liad abdicated; the Grand Duke of Saxe- 
Weimar had abdicated ; King Ludwig III. of Bavaria had abdi- 
cated; the King of Saxony had been dethroned; the Grand 
Duke of Oldenburg had been dethroned; Hesse-Darmstadt 
had become a Socialist republic; and the Emperor Charles, of 
Austria, had ceased to rule, and on iN'ovember 11 announced 
his abdication. Ever since his accession, he said, he had labored 
for peace ; had not delayed the reestablishment of the Constitu- 
tional rights of his people; and, "filled with an unalterable 
love" for them, would not be a hindrance to their free develop- 
ment, and acknowledged the decision by German Austria to 
form a separate State. "The people, by its deputies, have taken 
charge of the government. I relinquish every participation 
in the administration of the State." 

One by one, the old rulers continued to abandon their thrones. 
By the middle of ISTovember, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, and 
the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin had abdicated ; Saxe- 
Meiningen, and the Grand Duchy of Baden, had declared them- 
selves republics, and the Duchess of Luxemburg had expressed 
her willingness to abdicate, if her people by a general vote,. 
so demanded. 

Until the new government was formed, in Germany, all 
power was in the hands of three Socialists, Ebert, Scheide- 
mann and Landsberg. When formed, the new Provisional 
Government would consist, it was said, of members of both 
sections of the Socialist Party. Then would come the election 
of an Assembly which would determine the permanent form 
of Government. The Provisional Government as finally set up, 
at Berlin, consisted of three majority, and three minority 
Socialists. 

The intention of these new rulers was, to fix some date 
in January, 1919, for elections of members of a General As- 
sembly ; but the Soldiers' and Workmen's Council met, declared 
against an Assembly, and for a general Soldiers' and Work- 
men's Congress to decide "as to the future of Germany," and 



234 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

tlie government by telegi'aph invited the heads of the govern- 
ments, of the different German States, to a conference at Ber- 
lin, on IsTovember 25. Meantime, the returning soldiers ex- 
pressed their opinions. The Bavarian Reserve Division called 
for a ISTational Assembly, had nothing in common v^^ith the 
Berlin Soldiers' and Workmen's resolution, and believed the 
existing Government would give them a share in the solution 
of the problems before the German people. The Soldiers' Com- 
mittee, of the Fourth Army, were opposed to any form of 
dictatorship, and for a ISTational Assembly. The government 
of Saxony was for the abolition of the old Federal Constitu- 
tion, and for the union of the Saxon and German people in a 
Republic, including German Austria. Bavaria was reported 
to have a sent a note to Berlin, stating that, if the extremists, 
the Spartacus group, continued to strive for national authority^ 
and if the Assembly was not called at once, Bavaria, with all 
south Germany, would declare a republic, and make a sepa- 
rate peace. An agreement was finally reached, between the 
Government and the Soldiers' and Workmen's Council, that 
political power should be in the hands of the German Socialist 
Republic and the Soldiers' and Workmen's Council; that they 
should "defend and develop" what had been won by the revo- 
lution, and "suppress all counter-revolutionary" movements; 
that until representatives of the Soldiers' and Workmen's 
Council were elected to an executive council of the German 
Republic, the executive council, in Berlin, should go on with 
its work; and that a convention of deputies, drawn from the 
Soldiers' and Workmen's Council, was to be summoned as soon 
as possible. A meeting of Soldiers' and Workmen's deputies 
from Bremen, Hanover, Hamburg, Flensburg, Wilhelmshaven, 
and other towns in Hanover and Schleswig-Holstein, resolved 
to support the Government, and called for a ISTational Assembly. 
Representatives of the Tenth Army Corps at Hanover did the 
same, and at an election, in Dresden, for members of the 
Soldiers' and Workmen's Council of fifty, the extremists were 
overwhelmingly defeated. 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 235 

That an Assembly should be called, was the wish of the 
Federal Conference, but as to when it should meet, the Social- 
ists were divided. The Majority was for a meeting at as early 
a day as possible. The Independent Socialists were for delay 
until the German prisoners had returned, and been given a 
chance to vote; until the soldiers had returned and become 
familiar with the political situation; until the ground gained 
by the revolution had been made secure by certain Socialistic 
reforms, carried through while the proletariat still had the 
power in their hands. All these things required the meeting 
of the Assembly to be postponed until after February. In this 
position they were supported by the Spartacus group. 

Telegrams from Soldiers' and Workmen's Councils in many 
parts of Germany, to the Council, at Berlin, now demanded 
immediate elections for a National Assembly, whereupon the 
Executive Committee issued a call to all other Councils to send 
delegates to a general meeting, at Berlin, on December 16. The 
Council of the People's Commissioners then fixed February 16 
for the election of members of the ]!^ational Assembly and 
parted the old Empire into twenty-eight electoral districts with 
from six to sixteen representatives each, provided the Soldiers- 
and Workmen's Congress approved when it met, on Decem-~ 
ber 16. 

On the appointed day some four hundred and fifty delegates, 
three of whom were women, met in the building in which the 
Prussian Diet used to sit. Again and again, in the course of 
its sessions, attempts were made by the Spartacides and Inde- 
pendents to intimidate the Congress, if not disrupt it. 

Despite these intrusions and the excitement, tumult, and 
hindrance they caused, the Congress went on with its work, 
and before it adjourned, on December 21, adopted resolutions 
to place legislative and executive powers in the People's Com- 
missioners, or the Ebert Government, until the ISTational As- 
sembly ordered otherwise ; to appoint a Central Council to exer- 
cise supervision over German and Prussian Cabinets, and ap- 
point and remove members; elected a new National Central 



236 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Executive Committee of twentj-seven, and ordered that election 
of members of a National Assembly be held on January 19, 
1919. 

At home, the signing of the armistice was at once followed 
by preparation for a speedy return to a peace basis. An order 
from the Secretary of War cancelled a draft call for more 
than three hundred thousand men. Draft boards were in- 
structed, by General Crowder, to stop the movement of two 
hundred and fifty thousand men to training camps between 
November 11 and 15; and all questionnaires were to be re- 
turned. Most of the boards were notified in time ; but here and 
there men had already started, and were called back. At New 
York City, where five thousand were to mobilize early on the 
morning of November 11, seventeen hundred were on board 
a special train for Camp Totten when the orders came, just 
two minutes before departure. Supposing sea travel would 
be immediately resumed, hundreds of aliens, men and women, 
Russians, Hungarians, Austrians, Italians, Greeks, anxious to 
know the fate of relatives at home, besieged the passport office, 
and thronged the steamship agencies, offering to deposit money 
for berths on the first vessels to leave port. Agents of the neu- 
tral lines would not relax their war regulations, nor could those 
of the Allied nations. The Food Administrator took off his 
restrictions on the use of wheat flour; abolished the require- 
ment to use substitutes; and raised the monthly allowance of 
sugar to four pounds per person, after December 1. News- 
papers were authorized to lift their voluntary restriction not to 
report the arrival or departure of vessels at American ports, 
nor publish any shipping news, and many industries were freed 
from the limitations imposed on peace time production by the 
War Industries Board. 

Five hundred and more universities and colleges, which 
had dropped their academic work to train units of the Student 
Army Training Corps, were notified that the Corps would 
speedily be disbanded ; that members of the Corps who, having 
left business, wished to return to their old places, or intended 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 237 

to go on with their academic work, would soon be at liberty 
to do so, and that the institutions would be compensated only 
for services actually rendered, and not for the uncompleted 
term of instruction called for in the contracts. 

By this time the victorious armies of the Allies and the 
United States were on their way to the Rhine. At half past 
five o'clock on the morning of Sunday, ISTovember 17, the 
Third American Army, consisting of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 
6th, 32nd, 42nd, 89th and 90th divisions, the Army of Occu- 
pation, began its march northeastward along a front of sqme 
fifty miles, stretching from Mauzon, on the Meuse just below 
Sedan, southeastward to Stenay, Damvillers, Freres and Thiau- 
court, flanked on the left by the French Fifth Army, and on the 
right by the French Tenth, and by Monday night the Belgian 
border was crossed, and Etalle, St. Leger, Longwy, Audun- 
le-Eoman and Briey had been reached. 

As the army advanced, the front was more and more con- 
tracted, and vigilance was never for a moment relaxed. 'No 
signs of German treachery, however, were seen. Scattered over 
the countryside were the implements of war the Germans had 
failed to carry away. The streets of nearly every village were, 
littered with guns, helmets, belts, and here and there large guns 
and trucks. Along the way the advancing troops were greeted 
by thousands on thousands of men, women and children, 
hungry, half-clad refugees, civilian prisoners seeking their old 
homes. At Languyon the stores of ammunition were little 
impaired, the machine shops were in good condition, the loco- 
motives and cars were left intact, and the roads were not dam- 
aged. The Americans were now in a country which during 
four years had not been the scene of war, where the towns had 
not been torn or destroyed by shells, and where the people had 
suffered only from the rigor of German rule. Scores of French 
and American prisoners, turned loose by their captors, and 
left without food, came within the lines, all showing signs of 
scanty rations and hard work. Thousands of Russians, brought 
by the Germans to work behind their lines, were also sent in 



238 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

only to be turned back, for none save prisoners of tbe allied 
armies that bad fougbt on the western front were allowed to 
be received. 

N'ovember 20 the German border was crossed and that of 
the Duchy of Luxemburg, and at night the army rested in 
three countries, Belgium, Luxemburg and Lorraine. The 
march across the Grand Duchy was a triumphal procession. 
Cheering people, flag-decked streets, were in every village 
through which the troops passed. I^owhere, however, was the 
greeting so sincere and hearty as in Belgium, and nowhere in 
Belgium more hearty than in the city of Arlon. Along its 
streets were little trees decked with tinsel and lanterns; ban- 
ners and placards inscribed : "Hail ! Generous Americans" ; 
and American flags, some painted on paper, and others home- 
made. On the 21st the City of Luxemburg was reached. Be- 
fore entering it General Pershing, by proclamation, assured the 
people that the army came as friends, would stay no longer 
than was necessary, and would carefully observe the require- 
ments of international law. Much the greater part of the 
troops did not enter, but went around the city. A few, with 
General Pershing at their head, entered, marched along streets 
gay with flags, were heartily received, and reviewed by the 
Grand Duchess and General Pershing. The proclamation 
reads : 

After the four years of violation of your territory, the Grand 
Duchy of Luxemburg has happily been liberated. Your liberation 
from German occupation has been demanded of rthe invaders, by 
the armies of the Americans, and the Allies, as one of the conditions 
of the present armistice. It becomes necessary now for the Ameri- 
can troops to pass through the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, and to 
establish and maintain there, for a certain time, their lines of com- 
munication. 

The American troops have come into the Grand Duchy of Luxem- 
burg as friends, and shall rigorously conduct themselves according 
to international law. Their presence, which shall not be prolonged 
more than shall be strictly necessary, should not be for you a 
hardship. The functioning of your Government, and your institu- 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 239 

tions, shall not be interfered witli in any manner. Your life, and 
your occupations, shall not be molested. Your persons, and your 
welfare, shall be respected. 

It will be necessary for the American Army to use certain things, 
railroads, telegraphs, and telephones, and, perhaps, other public estab- 
lishments, for the needs of lodging and transport; furthermore, the 
commodities which become necessary for us shall be paid for, after 
just estimates. 

It is presumed you will not permit any acts of aggression against 
the American Army, or give any information, or aid to, its enemy. 
You will always conform to the instructions that the American Com- 
mander, for the safety of his troops and your proper protection, may 
give. 

WKen the German border was reached, along the Sauer and 
Moselle, the army halted. Sunday, December 1, the Moselle 
and the Saner were crossed ; the march across Germany to the 
Rhine was begun, and the city of Treves was entered. As was 
to he expected, the reception of our troops was cold and chill- 
ing. ]^o flags, no friendly greetings, such as had attended their 
progress across Luxemburg, Belgium and Lorraine, met them; 
but no hostility was anywhere shown. In stolid silence the Ger- 
mans witnessed the conquerors pass along their streets to quarc 
ters in the barracks; nor was any bitterness manifested later, 
as our soldiers strolled about the city, and entered the shops 
and restaurants. Headquarters was established; the Soviet 
guards, with white bands on their arms, were replaced by 
American soldiers, and General Preston Brown was made Mili- 
tary Governor. 

Leaving a garrison of some thirty-five hundred men in 
Treves, the army pushed on, and by Saturday, December 7, 
had come within twenty miles of the Rhine. The last of the 
German forces were to cross the river on the eighth; but, ere 
they did, a request came from the German command for Ameri- 
can troops to act as a police force in Coblenz, lest there be dis- 
orders between the withdrawal of the Germans and the arrival 
of the army of occupation. A battalion was at once sent on 
from Treves, by train, and entered Coblenz, and quietly took 



240 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

over control of tlie city. As our troops marched slowly across 
German territory no disturbances of any kind occurred, nor 
were there any signs of lack of food, or of the necessities of life. 

On the thirteenth of December, three divisions of our Army 
of Occupation crossed the Rhine, entered Coblenz, and began 
to take over the bridgehead, at that city, as provided in the 
armistice. This bridgehead was enclosed by a semi-circle drawn 
around Coblenz, with the Rhine as the diameter, and a radius 
of thirty kilometers. Outside of it was the ten-kilometer neu- 
tral zone drawn from the Netherlands to Switzerland. No 
Allied troops were to occupy this neutral zone, but the day 
Cologne, Coblenz and Mainz were occupied by the Allies, the 
armistice, which was to expire on December 17, was extended 
to January 17, 1919, and a new condition added. The Supreme 
Command of the Allies reserved the right, should it be neces- 
sary in order to obtain further guarantees, to occupy the neu- 
tral zone on the right bank of the Rhine from the Cologne 
bridgehead to the Dutch border. 

While the German commanders were thus carrying out the 
terms of the armistice, as they related to the forces on land, 
the naval commanders were doing the same on the sea. Details 
for the surrender of the surface ships, and submarines, hav- 
ing been arranged, at a meeting of the officers of the British 
and German navies in the cabin of Vice Admiral Beatty's 
flagship. Queen Elizabeth, in the Firth of Forth, on the eve- 
ning of Saturday, November 16. In accordance with the ar- 
rangements then made a squadron of five British cruisers and 
twenty destroyers left Harwick, in the early hours of the 
morning of the twentieth, and some thirty miles off that port 
were met by twenty German submarines moving on the sur- 
face with hatches open, crews on deck, gnins pointed fore and 
aft, numbers obliterated, and no flag flying. Headed by a 
British destroyer, the XT-boats followed to a spot some twenty 
miles off Harwick, where the German crews were replaced by 
British, and taken to German destroyers waiting to carry them 
back to the port whence they came. As the surrendered sub- 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 241 

marines passed through the gates in the mine field, a white 
flag, with the German ensign underneath, was run up on each, 
and an ever memorable event in England's naval history was 
ended. 

Far greater in importance was the event which occurred on 
ISTovember 21, when, in the presence of the British Grand 
Fleet, an American squadron and French cniisers, some four 
hundred warships in all, the German High Seas Fleet of 
twenty-one warships, and fifty destroyers, surrendered to Vice 
Admiral Beatty and, escorted by the allied fleets, were taken 
to the Firth of Forth, on their way to be interned in the 
Orkney Islands. That same day, another flotilla of nineteen 
submarines passed to British hands. The twentieth was dis- 
abled. On the following day, twenty-one were to be delivered, 
but only twenty came, for one sank at sea. Fifty-nine were 
thus surrendered. Among them was one which raided our 
coast early in the year. Twenty-eight, making eighty-seven in 
all, surrendered on the 24th. Among these was the Deuisch- 
land, or TJ-153, which twice visited our country in 1916 as a 
merchantman. In the course of a few days the number of sub- 
marines given up was 122. 

The armistice arranged, the thoughts of the warring powers 
turned to peace. From Herr Solf, German Secretary of State 
for Foreign Affairs, came, by wireless, to Secretary Lansing, 
a request for a speedy conclusion of a preliminary peace. "The 
armistice being now concluded," he said, "the German Govern- 
ment requests the Government of the United States to arrange 
for the opening of peace negotiations. For the purpose of their 
acceleration the German Government proposes, first of all, to 
take in view the conclusion of a preliminary peace, and asks 
for a communication as to what place, and at what time, the 
negotiations might begin. As there is pressing danger of a 
famine, the German Government is particularly anxious for 
negotiations to begin immediately." 

The Allies had no intention of discussing peace with Ger- 
many. It was for them to fix the terms, and for Germany to 



242 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

accept. A Peace Conference, it was announced, would be held 
at Paris, or Versailles, or perhaps at Berne, the details of which 
would be arranged, at an inter-allied conference by Premier 
Lloyd George, Foreign Secretary Andrew Bonar Law, Premier 
Orlando, and Foreign Minister Sonnino of Italy, Premier 
Yenizelos of Greece, and Foreign Minister Pachitch of Serbia, 
already on their way to Paris, and Mr. House, special repre- 
sentative of the United States. l!Tovember 15, the first meet- 
ing of the Premiers was held, and three days later it was 
officially announced that President Wilson would attend the 
Interallied Conference, and the Peace Conference when it met, 
and would leave the United States immediately after the as- 
sembling of Congress. 

The first intimation that the President would attend the 
Peace Conference was a rumor spread abroad, in Washington, 
that he was going, and would preside at the peace table. Had 
not Germany appealed to him to speed the work of succor? 
Had he not been the first to lay down the principles to form 
the basis for an enduring peace? Had not Germany, and 
Austria, already expressly accepted these principles ? Had not 
the Allies, in agreeing to an armistice, declared their willing- 
ness to discuss peace on the terms laid down by President 
Wilson? The only changes they made were, with regard to 
the freedom of the seas, and the reconstruction of invaded 
territories. Washington was sure that an invitation would 
soon come from the Allies, not only to attend, but to preside 
over the conference. 

Objection was at once raised, that Congress would be in 
session during his absence; that important bills would be 
passed; that the Constitution required that every bill "shall, 
before it becomes a law, be presented to the President"; that 
if he approves "he shall sign it" ; that if he does not he "shall 
return it, with his objections, to the House in which it shall 
have originated" ; and that, if he does neither of these acts 
"within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been 
presented to him, the same shall be a law." How could these 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 243 

requirements he observed if tJie President went abroad? The 
answer was, by a gentlemen's agreement important bills may 
not be passed until be returns; unimportant ones may become 
laws without his signature. This ignored the requirement that 
"before it becomes a law" a bill must "be presented to the 
President." 

All doubt as to the President's intentions were put at rest 
when, on ISTovember 18, an official statement was made public 
by the Committee on Public Information. 

The President expects to sail for France, immediately after the 
opening of the regular session of Congress, for the purpose of taking 
part in the discussion, and settlement, of the main features of the 
treaty of peace. 

It is not likely that it will be possible for him to remain through- 
out the sessions of the formal peace conference, but his presence at 
the outset is necessary, in order to obviate the manifest disadvantages 
of discussion by cable in determining the greater outlines of the 
final treaty about which he must necessarily be consulted. 

He will, of course, be accompanied by delegates who will sit as 
the representatives of the United States throughout the conference. 

The names of the delegates will be presently announced. 

On the expediency of this step, the press of the country was 
sharply divided. One journal called the President's decision to 
go abroad a grave error in judgment. It was unseemly "that 
we should have, at the conference, a representative outrank- 
ing in official position any other man there present." Another 
believed that, if the President went as a del^ate, our country 
would, sooner or later, be accused of seeking to dominate the 
conference, and of wishing to impose our will on the rest of 
the earth. Though other Allied Governments might yield w^th 
an outward grace, his act would rankle. A third was sure his 
going would be regretted throughout the land. His evident 
purpose was to place himself where his views could be readily 
impressed on the conference ; but where in the world was there 
a rostrum for such expression equal to that in the Hall of the 
House of Representatives, in the presence of the representatives 



244 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

of a hundred million people? True, the belligerents, said an- 
other journal, are all under obligations to us for food, for bil- 
lions of dollars, for hundreds of thousands of splendid fighting 
men. But if we cannot call ourselves an ally, we cannot have 
much to say concerning the future map of Europe. 

Journals, holding the opposite view, admitted that it was 
unprecedented for the President of the United States to cross 
the seas, but so also was it unprecedented to send two million 
of our boys to fight in France. The peace conference was 
unprecedented. It marked a new epoch in the political history 
of the world, and the presence of the man who formulated the 
principles on which peace must be made was most desirable. 

The Senate, as the body before which our treaties of peace 
must come for approval, was much concerned by the President's 
decision. Some Senators approved ; thought it wise for him to 
go ; and were glad he was going. Others were not at all pleased, 
and looked with dread on his absence for an indefinite time, 
and on the discharge of his duties, by cable and wireless. 

At this stage of the discussion a proclamation, dated iNovem- 
ber 2, and more than two weeks old, was made public for the 
first time. In it, the President announced that, "whereas it is 
deemed necessary for national security and defense to super- 
vise, and to take possession, and assume control of, all marine 
cable systems," therefore, they were taken possession of, and 
their management placed in the hands of the Postmaster Gen- 
eral. This sweeping order applied not only to the seventeen 
cables across the Atlantic, but to those across the Pacific, those 
to South America, to anywhere. Taking over the cables, after 
fighting had ceased abroad, coupled with the fact that Mr. 
Creel, Chairman of the Committee on Public Information, was 
to attend the Peace Conference, gave origin to a charge that a 
censorship of reports of its doings was to be established. The 
President, it was said, might order all members of the Ameri- 
can delegation not to discuss the work of the Conference with 
newspapermen, but refer all inquiries to Mr. Creel, and so 
determine just what news should reach our country. All 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 245 

thouglit of such a thing was vehemently denied. Mr. Creel 
pointed out that, on November 14, the newspapers had been 
relieved of their voluntary ban on the publication of shipping 
news; that on the 15th, all censorship of the cables and mails 
had ceased, and that no press censorship, of any kind, existed 
in the United States. His work in Europe would have no con- 
nection with the control of cables, censorship, or supervision 
over the press. The answer was that it would be an. easy matter 
to stop unfriendly dispatches by placing them at the end of the 
file. It was certain the cables would be crowded; that some 
sort of priority would have to be established; and that, by 
placing unfriendly dispatches at the end of the file, they might 
reach ISTew York too late for publication, and become worthless. 
Turning from the act of the President in taking over the 
cables, to his approaching departure for France, his opponents 
now raised a new issue. Would he not, if he went, cease to be 
President, and would not the Vice-President become President 
while he was away? It was said, the Constitution provides 
that in case of removal of the President from office, death, 
resigTiation or "inability to discharge the powers and duties of 
said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President." Were 
there any duties which his absence would create an "inability" 
to perform? There are, was the answer. There are two im- 
portant duties, it was claimed, which the President has to 
perform when Congress is in session. He must, from time to 
time, "give to Congress information of the state of the Union, 
and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall 
judge necessary and expedient," and he must consider bills 
passed by Congress, approve them, or veto them, or allow them 
to become laws without his signature ; and so, also, must every 
order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of both 
Houses is required, be presented to him before it can go into 
effect. If he is not in the country he cannot properly perform 
these duties, and this constitutes "inability" within the meaning 
of the Constitution, and his office devolves on the Vice-President, 
and justifies him in assuming the office. Should there be any 



246 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

doubt as to how tlie Vice^-President should proceed to assume 
the office, a mandamus might be used, or a joint resolution of 
Congress would be sufficient. When the Vice-President was 
questioned on these points he declared he would not, of his own 
volition, assume the office during the absence of the President, 
but would feel compelled to do so if a court, having proper 
jurisdiction, should mandamus him. He could not say what he 
would do if Congress should call on him to act. 

Discussion was of no avail. The matter was settled. The 
President would sail, on December 3, on the transport George 
Washington, and public interest turned to guessing who the 
delegates would be. According to an unofficial announcement 
they would be: The President, the Secretary of State, the 
Secretary of Agriculture, Colonel Edward House, and repre- 
senting the Republicans, Mr. Henry White, formerly ambassa- 
dor to France. An official announcement confirmed tiiis state- 
ment save that not the Secretary of Agriculture, but General 
Tasker H. Bliss, was the fifth representative. Failure of the 
President to take Congress into his confidence, failure to reveal 
to any member of his party reasons for his European trip, 
failure to appoint at least one Senator on the commission, were 
further causes of irritation. If he felt that his presence was 
really needed at the peace table, at a time when Congress was 
about to begin important reconstruction legislation, he ought, 
it was said, to have taken Congress into his confidence that his 
views on such legislation might be known. But not a word had 
he uttered to a soul as to what legislation he thought necessary. 

In no amicable state of mind, therefore, did the two Houses, 
after a short recess, meet at the opening of the regular session, 
on December 2, to listen to the annual message. Concerning 
the three matters most in the public mind at that time, and on 
which it was hoped he would make definite statements, the 
seizure of the cables, why he was going abroad, and what he 
expected to accomplish there, the President gave little satisfac- 
tion. At his request, he said, the French and English Govern- 
ments had removed, absolutely, all censorship of cable news, 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 247 

and there was now no censorship at our end, save on attempted 
trade conuminication with enemy countries. It was necessary 
to keep open a wire between Paris and the Department of State, 
and another between France and the Department of War. In 
order to do this, with the least interference with the use of 
cables for other purposes, he had temporarily taken over control 
of both cables that they might be used as one system. He did 
this under the advice of experienced officials of the cables, and 
he hoped that the news of the next few months would pass to 
and fro with the utmost freedom, and the least possible delay. 
The President "welcomed this occasion to announce to Con- 
gress" his purpose to join the representatives of the Allied 
Governments in the peace conference at Paris. He realized the 
inconveniences that would attend his leaving the country, but 
the belief that it was his duty to go had been forced on him by 
considerations which he hoped Congress would regard as 
conclusive. 

The Allied Governments have accepted the bases of peace which 
I outlined to the Congress on the 8th of January last, as the Central 
Empires also have, and very reasonably desire my personal counsel 
in their interpretation and application, and it is highly desirable 
that I should give it, in order that the sincere desire of our Govern- 
ment to contribute, without selfish purpose of any kind, to settle- 
ments that will be of common benefit to all the nations concerned, 
may be made fully manifest. 

The peace settlements which are now to be agreed upon are of 
transcendent importance both to us, and to the rest of the world, and 
I know of no business or interest which should take precedence of 
them. The gallant men of our armed forces on land and sea have 
consciously fought for the ideals which they knew to be the ideals 
of their country; I have sougkt to express those ideals; they have 
accepted my statements of them as the substance of their own 
thought and purpose, as the associated Governments have accepted 
them. I owe it to them to see to it, so far as in me lies, that no 
false or mistaken interpretation is put upon them, and no possible 
effort omitted to realize them. It is now my duty to play my full 
part in making good what they offered their life's blood to obtain. 

I can think of no call to service which could transcend this. 



248 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

In the course of the day, two resolutions bearing on the 
absence of the President, and his failure to appoint a Senator 
a delegate to the Conference, appeared in the Senate. One 
called for a committee of eight Senators, four from the majority 
and four from the minority, to be present at the Peace Con- 
ference. The other declared that the absence of the President 
from the seat of government should be construed as inability to 
perform the duties of his office, and that they should, imme- 
diately on the departure of the President, devolve on the Vice- 
President, who should assume and exercise them until a Presi- 
dent "shall be duly elected." A third resolution, almost identi- 
cal in language, was introduced into the House. It differed, 
however, in that, instead of legislating the President out of 
office, it provided that the Vice-President should exercise the 
office of President until Mr. Wilson returned to the United 
States. 

On the following day, December 4, the Senators went back to 
their attack on the President and his policies. One declared 
that, to his "own knowledge," it was the wish of the President 
to appoint members of both the Senate and the House delegates 
to the Peace Conference, and that "not until close investigation 
and reflection revealed to him the difficulties that undoubtedly 
would confront them, was he compelled to dismiss that consid- 
eration." Nothing was said, in the course of the long debate, 
concerning tlie President's trip abroad, but much was said about 
a League of Nations, and two more resolutions were offered. 
The reasons for that offered by Senator Frelinghuysen were, 
that the President had informed Congress that the Allied 
Powers and the Central Powers, having accepted the basis for 
a peace as outlined in his speech on January 8, 1918, it was 
his duty to see that no false or mistaken interpretation was put 
on it; that the President had never stated his own interpreta- 
tion of his basis for a peace ; that some of his points, especially 
those relating to a League of Nations and to the Freedom of 
the Seas, admitted of various interpretations, some of which 
might be in conflict with our established traditions. Therefore, 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 249 

he should be respectfully requested to make known his own 
interpretation of his peace terms, as stated in his speech of 
January 8, 1918, "and not attempt to impose such interpreta- 
tion upon the international conference until full opportunity 
is presented to the American public to become acquainted with 
the same, to the end that this nation may not be committed to 
policies in contravention of the traditions of the United States." 
Another resolution, offered by Senator Borah, had to do with 
the treaty of peace when it came before the Senate. The reasons 
for this resolution, as stated in the preamble, were : That the 
President in his speech on January 8, 1918, had said that the 
first requisite to a durable peace was, "open covenants openly 
arrived at, after which there shall be no private international 
understandings of any kind, but diplomacy shall proceed always 
frankly and in the public view" ; that this was a clear denuncia- 
tion of secret diplomacy, the chief weapon of despotism, and 
the most prolific source of the world's disturbances; that no 
covenant of peace could be binding on the United States, save 
through a treaty ratified by the Senate; and that the people 
who waged and won the war in behalf of democracy were 
entitled to know, in advance of their being bound, the terms o£ 
any treaty of peace. Therefore, when such a treaty came before 
the Senate it should at once be made public, and all discussion 
relative to it should be in open session. Yet another resolution, 
offered by Senator Borah, after citing the opinions of Wash- 
ington, Jefferson, and Monroe on entangling alliances, declared 
that the policies thus early announced, and ever since adhered 
to, had greatly contributed to the peace and happiness of our 
people; that any material departure from those policies would 
be fraught with danger to the peace and happiness of our people 
and, it might be, would involve us in controversies with other 
nations. Therefore, the Senate should reaffirm its faith in the 
lasting worth and wisdom of those policies, and "seek in all 
matters coming before it touching the interest, or affairs of 
foreign countries, to conform its acts to these time-honored 
principles, so long and so happily a part of our own policy." 



250 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

While the Senators thus gave vent to their feelings, the Presi- 
dent set sail from New York for Brest. On the morning of 
December 4 he boarded the United States transport George 
Washington, one of the finest vessels of the old German mer- 
chant fleet, and, escorted by destroyers, and airplanes, and the 
superdreadnought Pennsylvania., and greeted by salutes and 
whistles, and the cheers of thousands gathered along the water 
front of Manhattan and Staten Island, went to sea. Across the 
Atlantic he was convoyed by the Pennsylvania, and a flotilla of 
destroyers. 

The President having left the country without definitely 
stating what should be done at the coming Peace Conference, 
our countrymen turned their attention to the statements of the 
leaders of the Allies. A Parliamentary election was under way 
in Great Britain, and one by one the chiefs of the parties 
explained their views to the voters. Lloyd George was firm for 
the trial and punishment of every man responsible in any way 
for the war, however high his rank, and pledged himself to do 
his best to see full justice done. ''The Kaiser," said he, "must 
be prosecuted. The war was a crime. Who doubts that ?" It 
was a frightful, terrible crime. It was a crime in the way 
in which it was planned, and in the deliberate wantonness with 
which it was provoked. It was also a crime in the invasion of 
a helpless little state, and in the wicked and most brutal treat- 
ment of that little state. Remember the treaty of neutrality, 
"the scrap of paper." Is no one responsible ? Is no one to be 
called to account ? Is there to be no punishment ? Surely, that 
is neither God's justice nor man's. The men responsible for 
this outrage on the human race must not be let off because their 
heads were crowned when they perpetrated the deed. 

The British Government referred the question of the crimin&l 
culpability of the Kaiser and his accomplices to their law officers 
some weeks ago. They invited a body of jurists in England to 
investigate the matter, and they have unanimously come to the 
conclusion that the Kaiser, and his accomplices in the making of this 
war, ought to be tried by an international court. They also reported 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 251 

strongly in favor of the punishment of those guilty of murder on the 
high seas, and the abominable ill-treatment of prisoners. The British 
Government will use its whole influence at the Peace Conference to 
see that justice is executed. 

Mr. Balfour, Secretary of State for roreign Affairs, speak- 
ing at Kocliedale, was for a league of nations, and believed it 
"the greatest work of tlie conference." He did not think the 
world, could be made safe for democracy "merely by multiply- 
ing the number of democratic states." Passions, sure to arise 
between neighboring democracies, made them quite as prone to 
strife as if under other forms of government. A league of 
nations was of vital importance, if the war was to produce all 
the good expected to come out of it, and the United States must 
bear a large share of the work such a league would involve. Mr. 
Asquith was for punishing the guilty. "We ought to insist that 
justice be done, and that not only the forms, but the spirit of 
justice, the meting out to the wrongdoer of his due, not less and 
not more, should be scrupulously observed." Sir Auckland 
Geddes, speaking in Plymouth, insisted that Germany must pay 
the cost of war in such gold as she had and in such material a,s 
could be wrung from her, and pay in labor for restoring such 
damage as she wrought in France and Belgium, and should 
have no colonies left when the Allies had done with her. 

Viscount Grey, Foreign Secretary, when the war began, gave 
his views on the freedom of the seas and the League of Kations. 

I think it is a great pity that so much has been said about 
the freedom of the seas without being defined. It is true there is 
considerable prejudice against the phrase, largely due to the fact 
that it is believed to be a German phrase. It is not German, but 
American. It was made in the United States, and the Germans 
adopted, and used it, for their own purposes in a sense to which we 
have never agreed. Hence its unpopularity. But, until President 
Wilson defines it and comes to discuss it with our Government, there 
is no need to anticipate difficulty about an agreement as to what it 
means. 

Freedom of the seas in times of peace ? If so, we agree. Wherever 
the British navy has been in position to exercise its influence and 



252 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

power on the seas in times of peace it has exercised that influence 
impartially for the freedom of the seas for all nations without dis- 
tinction. The United States, I think, has some rule forbidding 
foreign ships to carry goods between the United States and the 
Philippines. Some other countries have rules of the same kind. We 
never had a regulation like that. We have been more completely 
for the freedom of the seas in times of peace than any other nation. 
However great our sea power has been, we have used it for impartial 
freedom of the seas for every other nation as much as for ourselves, 
and I think we ought to receive a little more recognition than we 
do for the fact that we have never used British naval power in times 
of peace to make the use of the seas easier for ourselves without 
simultaneously making it easier for others on the same terms. 

If the question is one of the freedom of the seas in times of war, 
then I would say this : The United States, as we all most gratefully 
recognize, has taken part in the last two years of the war. With- 
out the United States we could not have had the success the Allies 
have now won. I cannot emphasize that too much nor express too 
much admiration of it. But, since the United States entered the 
war she has not only acquiesced, but, I believe, most strongly co- 
operated in carrying out the blockade of Germany. In the early 
stages of the war the blockade was not nearly so complete because 
the United States raised many questions about it, but in the later 
years of the conflict the blockade was made complete, with the co- 
operation of the United States. Without that blockade success could 
not have been won. Indeed, without the blockade, Germany might 
have won. 

Suppose this situation should exist again, and it is impossible to 
suppose that the United States would say that the blockade, which 
was so essential for success, should not be allowed. That would 
stultify everything America did in this war. It would really be an 
insult to the United States to suggest that she would in future 
advocate any course, in a war such as this, inconsistent with what 
she did in this war, and that was the complete blockade of an 
offending nation. If this be so, we come to this, that probably what 
is in President Wilson's mind is, that freedom of the seas should be 
secured to any nation observing the covenants of a league of nations, 
and should be denied to any nation breaking those covenants. If 
that is so, then a league of nations is the solution to the whole 
question, and cannot be discussed apart from it. 

On these grounds, I believe, there may be complete agreement 
between the two countries only if a league of nations is formed. 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 253 

I do not see why this country should not accept the formula, that 
if a league of nations is formed there is to be complete freedom 
of the seas so long as the covenants of the league are observed, but 
if the covenants are broken then there is to be no freedom of the 
seas, and every means are to be used against the power which has 
broken them. 

If reports were to be trusted, the Netherlands Government 
would gladly he rid of its unbidden guests, and if pressed by 
the Allies would yield, but ere it did so would urge the Allies 
to be content with the internment of the Kaiser, and his spn, 
on some island in the East or West Indies, where they would 
be guarded by a Dutch fleet. The Crown Prince was reported 
to have signed a paper on December 1, renouncing "formally 
and definitely all rights to the Crown of Prussia and the Im- 
perial Crown," which would have fallen to him "by the renun- 
ciation of the Emperor-King, or for other reasons." 

Whether he did, or did not, renounce his claims made but 
little difference to the Allies, for they were fully determined 
that none of the HohenzoUerns should ever reign again. What 
concerned them most was the setting up, in Germany, of a 
stable and responsible government, with which they could deaL 
in making peace. ITo signs of such a government as yet ap- 
peared. Bavaria was insulting and defying the Berlin govern- 
ment, and demanding the resignation of Doctor Solf. The 
Cabinet was for a National Assembly. The Executive Council, 
of twenty-seven, of the Soldiers' and Workmen's Council, was 
for a Congress of Soldiers and Workmen. The Spartacides 
were said to have fifteen thousand well-armed men, and might, 
at any time, break out in revolution. Break out they did, and 
during January, 1919, there were riots in many places, and 
sharp fighting in the streets of Berlin, during which the two 
leaders of the Spartacides, Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, 
were killed. The Provisional Government, however, weathered 
all attacks; the elections for the Assembly were held on the 
appointed day; and February 6 was chosen as the time, and 
the city of Weimar as the place, for the meeting of the body 



254 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

that was to do wliat a few months before seemed impossible, 
set up a Kepublican Government in Germany. 

While our troops were marching across the Rhine the Presi- 
dent reached Brest and landed in France. About five o'clock 
in the morning the convoy escorting the George Washington 
was met at sea by a division of American battleships from 
somewhere off the Coast of Great Britain; about eleven o'clock 
a fleet of twelve French cruisers came up from the South and 
took place in line, and thus accompanied by some forty vessels 
of war the Washington shortly after noon dropped anchor in the 
harbor of Brest, saluted by the land batteries, the warships in 
the harbor and by the cheers of the multitude gathered on the 
quay, the ramparts and the hills. The French Foreign Min- 
ister, a member of the French Chamber of Deputies, at once 
put off from shore amidst more salutes from guns, to extend an 
official gi-eeting, and General Pershing, General Tasker Bliss 
and Mr. House came to pay their respects. After three o'clock 
the President and his party were escorted ashore to a gayly 
decorated pavilion, where the Mayor of Brest welcomed the 
President to his city. The event was of no common sort. The 
reasons which induced the President to come, the object of his 
visit, the fact that never before had a President of the Great 
Eepublic of the JSTew World set foot upon the soil of the Old, 
all combined to make the occasion one of historical importance. 
Well did the Mayor say: 

Mr. Piesident: I feel the deepest emotion in presenting to you 
the welcome of the Breton population. The ship bringing you to 
this port is the symbol under the auspices of which the legions of 
your pacific citizens sprang to arms in the grand cause of independ- 
ence. Under the same auspices to-day you bring to the tormented' 
soil of Europe the comfort of your authorized voice in the debates 
which will calm our quarrels. 

Mr. President, upon this Breton soil our hearts are unanimous 
in saluting you as the messenger of justice and peace. To-moiTOW 
it wiU be our entire nation which will acclaim you, and our whole 
people will thrill with enthusiasm over the eminent statesman who 
is the champion of their aspirations toward justice and liberiy. 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 255 

This old Breton, city has the honor of first saluting you. In order 
to perpetuate this honor to our descendants, the Municipal Council 
has asked me to present you with an address expressing their joy 
at being privileged to incline themselves before the illustrious dem- 
ocrat who presides over the destinies of the great Republic of the 
United States. 

When the engrossed address had been presented, and the cere- 
monies were over, the President and his party set off in auto- 
mohiles, and, passing along streets gay with flags and bunting, 
mottoes, banners and transparencies, lined with Trench and 
American troops, and packed with a cheering crowd of citizens 
and Breton peasants in their picturesque dress, made their way 
to the railway station and departed for Paris. 

It was ten o'clock on the morning of Saturday, the fourteenth, 
when the train entered the Bois de Boulogne Station, where 
the President and his wife were received by President Poincare 
and Madame Poincare, and Premier Clemenceau, and a host of 
officials. The formalities over, the Presidential party set forth 
to receive such a welcome as had never been accorded to any 
man. Every foot of the way was lined with troops of Prance^ 
many fresh from the battle front, and for mile after mile with- 
captured guns and trophies. Every available space was crowded 
with joyful people waving flags and shouting welcome to the 
President. Every building was decked with the Stars and 
Stripes. The carriage of the President was filled with flowers, 
thrown to Mrs. Wilson by the excited people. At one o'clock 
the President and Mrs. Wilson attended an official luncheon 
given by President and Madame Poincare, at the close of which 
President Poincare rose and said : 

Mr. President: Paris and France awaited you with impatience.- 
They were eager to acclaim in you the illustrious democrat whose 
words and deeds were inspired by exalted thought, the philosopher 
delighting in the solution of universal laws from particular events, 
the eminent statesman who had found a way to express the highest 
political and moral truth in formulas which bear the stamp of 
immortality. 

They had also a passionate desire to offer thanks, in your person, 



256 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

to the great republic of whieh you are the chief, for the invaluable 
assistance which had been given spontaneously, during this war, to 
the defenders of .right and liberty. 

Even before America had resolved to intervene in the struggle she 
had shown to the wounded and the orphans of France a solicitude 
and a generosity the memory of which will always be enshrined in 
our hearts. The liberality of your Red Gross, the countless gifts of 
your fellow citizens, the inspiring initiative of American women, 
anticipated your military and naval action and showed the world 
to which side your sympathies inclined. And on the day when you 
flung yourselves into the battle, with what determination your great 
people and yourself prepared for united success! 

Some months ago you cabled to me that the United States would 
send ever-increasing forces until the day should be reached on which 
the Allied armies were able to submerge the enemy under an over- 
whelming flow of new divisions, and, in effect, for more than a year, 
a steady stream of youth and energy has been poured out upon the 
shores of France. 

No sooner had they landed than your gallant battalions, fired by 
their chief. General Pershing, flung themselves into the combat with 
such a manly contempt of danger, such a smiling disregard of death, 
that our longer experience of this terrible war often moved us to 
counsel prudence. They brought with them in arriving here the 
enthusiasm of crusaders leaving for the Holy Land. 

It is their right to-day to look with pride upon the work accom- 
plished and to rest assured that they have powerfully aided by their 
courage and their faith. 

Eager as they were to meet the enemy, they did not know when 
they a.rrived the enormity of his crimes. That they might know 
how the Germans make war it has been necessary that they see 
towns systematically burned down, mines flooded, factories reduced 
to ashes, orchards devastated, cathedrals shelled and fired — all that 
deliberate savagery aimed to destroy national wealth, nature and 
beauty, which the imagination could not conceive at a distance from 
the men and things that have endured it and to-day bear witness 
to it. 

In your turn, Mr. President, you will be able to measure with 
your own eyes the extent of these disasters, and the French Govern- 
ment will make known to you the authentic documents in which the 
German general staff developed, with astounding cynicism, its pro- 
gram of pillage and industrial annihilation. Your noble conscience 
will pronounce a verdict on these facts. 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 257 

Should this guilt remain unpunished, could it be renewed, the 
most splendid victories would be in vain. 

Mr. President, France has struggled, has endured and has suffered 
during four long years; she has bled at every vein; she has lost 
the best of her children; she mourns for her youths. She yearns 
now, even as you do, for a peace of justice and security. 

It was not that she might be exposed once again to aggression 
that she submitted to such sacrifices. Nor was it in order that 
criminals should go unpunished, that they might lift their heads 
again to make ready for new crimes, that under your strong leader- 
ship America armed herself and crossed the ocean. 

Eaithful to the memory of Lafayette and Rochambeau, she came 
to the aid of France because France herself was faithful to her 
traditions. Our common ideal has triumphed. Together we have 
defended the vital principles of free nations. 

Now we must build together such a peace as will forbid the 
deliberate and hypocritical renewing of an organism aiming at con- 
quest and oppression. 

Peace must make amends for the misery and sadness of yesterday 
and it must be a guarantee against the dangers of to-morrow. The 
association, which has been formed for the purpose of war, between 
the United States and the Allies, and which contains the seed of the 
permanent institutions of which you have spoken so eloquently, will 
find from this day forward a clear and profitable employment in the 
concerted search for equitable decisions, and in the mutual support" 
which we need if we are to make our rights prevail. 

Whatever safeguards we may erect for the future, no one, alas, 
can assert that we shaU forever spare to mankind the horrors of 
new wars. Five years ago the progress of science and the state of 
civilization might have permitted the hope that no government, how- 
ever autocratic, would have succeeded in hurling armed nations upon 
Belgium and Serbia. 

Without lending ourselves to the illusion that posterity will be 
forevermore safe from these collective follies, we must introduce into 
the peace we are going to build all the conditions of justice and all the 
safeguards of civilization that we can embody in it. 

To such a vast and magnificent task, Mr. President, you have 
chosen to come and apply yourself in concert with France. France 
offers you her thanks. She knows the friendship of America. She 
knows your rectitude and elevation of spirit. It is in the fullest 
confidence that she is ready to work with you. 

I lift my glass, Mr. President, in your honor and in honor of 



258 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Mrs. Wilson. I drink to tlie prosperity of the Eepublic of the United 
States, our great friend of yesterday and of other days, of to-morrow, 
and of all time. 



To this address President Wilson replied : 

Mr. President: I am deeply indebted to you for your gracious 
greeting. It is very delightful to find myself in France and to feel 
the quick contact of sympathy and unaffected friendship between the 
representatives of the United States and the representatives of 
Prance. 

You have been very generous in what you were pleased to say 
about myself, but I feel that what I have said and what I have tried 
to do has been said and done (jnly in an attempt to speak the thought 
of the people of the United States truly and to carry that thought 
out in action. 

From the first thought of the people of the United States turned 
toward something more than the mere winning of this war. It turned 
to the establishment of eternal principles of right and justice. It 
realized that merely to win the war was not enough; that it must 
be won in such a way and the questions raised by it settled in such 
a way as to insure the future peace of the world and lay the founda- 
tions for the freedom and happiness of its many peoples and nations. 

Never before has war won so terrible a visage or exhibited more 
grossly the debasing influence of illicit ambitions. I am sure that 
I shall look upon the ruin wrought by the armies of the Central Em- 
pires with the same repulsion and deep indignation that they stir in 
the hearts of the men of France and Belgium, and I appreciate as 
you do, sir, the necessity of such action in the final settlement of the 
issues of the war as will not only rebuke such acts of terror and spo- 
liation, but make men everywhere aware that they cannot be ven- 
tured upon without the certainty of just punishment. 

I know with what ardor and enthusiasm the soldiers and sailors 
of the United States have given the best that was in them in this war 
of redemption. They have expressed the true spirit of America. 
They believe their ideals to be acceptable to free peoples everywhere 
and are rejoiced to have played the part they have played in giving 
reality to those ideals in cooperation with the armies of the Allies, 
We are proud of the part they have played and we are happy that 
they should have been associated with such comrades in a common 
cause. 

It is with peculiar feeling, Mr. President, that I find myself in 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 259 

France joining with you in rejoicing over the victory that has been 
won. The ties that bind France and the United States are peculiarly 
close. I do not know in what other comradeship we could have fought 
with more zest or enthusiasm. It will daily be a matter of pleasure 
with me to be brought into consultation with the statesmen of 
France and her allies in concerting the measures by which we may 
secure permanence for these happy relations of friendship and co- 
operation, and secure for the world at large such safety and freedom 
in its life as can be secured only by the constant association and 
cooperation of friends. 

I greet you not only with deep personal respect, but as the repre- 
sentative of the great people of France, and beg to bring you the 
greetings of another great people to whom the fortunes of France are 
of" profound and lasting interest. 

I raise my glass to the health of the President of the French Re- 
public and to Madame Poincare and the prosperity of France. 

At the Sorbonne the President received from the Faculty of 
Letters the degree of Doctor, Honoris Causa, because of his 
writings in history, and the same degree from the Faculty of 
Law because of his work on jurisprudence and political science, 
and delivered an address. In the course of it he said : 

The task of those who are gathered here, or will presently be 
gathered here, to make the settlements of this peace, is greatly sim- 
plified by the fact that they are the masters of no one; they are 
the servants of mankind. And if we do not heed the mandates of 
mankind we shall make ourselves the most conspicuous and 
deserved failures in the history of the world. 

My conception of the League of Nations is just this: that it 
shall operate as the organized moral force of men throughout the 
world, and that whenever or wherever wrong and aggression are 
planned or contemplated, this searching light of conscience will 
be turned upon them, and men everywhere will ask, "What are 
the purposes that you hold in your heart against the fortunes of 
the world?" 

Just a little exposure will settle most questions. If the Central 
Powers had dared to discuss the purposes of this war for a single 
fortnight, it never would have happened; and if, as should be, they 
were forced to discuss it for a year, the war would have been 
inconceivable. 



260 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Christmas eve the President went to Chanmont, then the 
main headquarters of the American Expeditionary Forces. 
Christmas Day, at Humes, not far from Chaumont, he reviewed 
ten thousand of our men, a part of that fine army which drove 
the Germans out of the St. Mihiel salient, and fought their 
way through the forest of Argonne to Sedan. Standing in their 
presence, the President told them they had done their duty and 
done it with a spirit which gave it distinction and glory. 

Prom Chaumont the President hurried to England to receive 
such a greeting as had never been accorded to any American, 
and rarely to an English King. Escorted from Calais to mid- 
channel by four French destroyers and thence to the English 
coast by airplanes and British destroyers, he was greeted at 
Dover by the guns of the Castle, by" the Duke of Connaught,, 
and the welcoming party, by the Mayor and Corporation of 
that ancient city in their scarlet robes of office, and listened to 
the reading, by the Kecorder, of a formal address. 

As President Wilson [wrote a correspondent of the Philadelphia 
Ledger] walked to a train a dozen girls wearing the American 
colors strewed petals of roses in his path. All this time the airplanes 
had been hovering over the pier and the station, and as the special 
train bearing the President left for the capital the airmen also 
headed for London, accompanying the train all the way. 

As the train crossed the Thames and entered the station a great 
cheer went up from the crowd. A salute of forty-one guns was 
fired from the tower of London and in Hyde Park. 

From the station to Buckingham Palace the progress was 
such as London never witnessed save on a coronation day. Such 
crowds, such enthusiasm, such decorations and such cheering 
had never greeted any foreigner on English soil. 

On the evening of the 27th a state dinner, attended with all 
the ceremonials and formalities which had marked such state 
occasions for two hundred years, was given in the banquet hall 
of the palace, and the President formally welcomed by King 
George. 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 261 

This [said his Majesty] is a historic moment and your visit marks 
a historic epoch. Nearly 150 years have passed since your Republic 
began its independent life, and now, for the first time, a President 
of the United States is our guest in England. 

We welcome you to the country whence came your ancestors and 
where stands the homes of those from whom sprang Washington and 
Lincoln. We welcome you for yourself, as one whose insight, 
calmness, and dignity in the discharge of his high duties we have 
watched with admiration. We see in you the happy union of the 
gifts of a scholar with those of a statesman. You came from a 
studious, academic quiet into the full stream of an arduous public 
life, and your deliverances have combined breadth of view and grasp 
of world problems with the mastery of a lofty diction recalling that 
of your great orators of the past and of our own time. 

You come as the official head and spokesman of a mighty Common- 
wealth bound to us by the closest ties. Its people speak the tongue 
of Shakespeare and Milton. Our literature is yours as yours is also 
ours, and men of letters in both countries have joined in maintaining 
its incomparable glories. 

To you, not less than to us, belong the memories of our national 
heroes from King Alfred down to the days of Philip Sidney and 
Drake, of Raleigh and Blake, and Hampden, and the days when the 
political life of the English stock in America was just beginning. 
You share with us the traditions of free self-government as old as 
the Magna Charta. 

We recognize the bond of still deeper significance in the common 
ideals which our people cherish. First among those ideals you 
value and we value, freedom and peace. Privileged as we have been 
to be the exponents and the examples in national life of the prin- 
ciples of popular self-government based upon equal laws, it now 
falls to both of us alike to see how these principles can be applied 
beyond our own borders for the good of the world. 

It was love of liberty, respect for law, good faith and the sacred 
rights of humanity that brought you to the Old World to help in 
saving it from the dangers that were threatening around, and that 
arraigned those soldier citizens of yours, whose gallantry we have 
admired, side by side with ours in the war. 

You have now come to help in building up new States amid the 
ruins of those that the war has shattered, and in laying the solid 
foundations of a settlement that may stand firm because it will 
rest upon the consent of the emancipated nationalities. You have 
eloquently expressed the hope of the American people, as it is our 



262 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

hope, that some plan may be devised to attain the end you have done 
so much to promote by which the risk of future war may, if pos- 
sible, be averted, relieving the nations of the intolerable burden 
which fear of war has laid upon them. 

The British Nation wishes all success to the deliberations on 
which you and we and the great free nations allied with us are now 
to enter, moved by disinterested good wiU and a sense of duty 
commensurate with the power which we hold as a solemn trust. 

The American and British peoples have been brothers in arms, and 
their arms have been crowned with victory. We thank with all 
our hearts your valiant soldiers and sailors for their splendid part 
in that victory, as we thank the American people for their noble 
response to the call of civilization and humanity. May the same 
brotherly spirit inspire and guide our united efforts to secure for 
the world the blessings of an ordered freedom and an enduring 
peace. 

In asking you to join with me in drinking the health of the 
President, I wish to say with what pleasure we welcome Mrs. Wilson 
to this country. 

I drink to the health of the President of the United States and 
Mrs. Wilson and to the happiness and prosperity of the great 
American Nation. 

To this the President answered and said : 

Every influence that the American people have over the affairs 
of the world is measured by their sympathy with the aspirations 
of freemen everywhere. 

America does love freedom, and I believe that she loves freedom 
unselfishly. But if she does not she will not and cannot help the 
influence to which she justly aspires. 

I have had the privilege. Sir, of conferring with the leaders of 
your own Government, and with the spokesmen of the Governments 
of France and of Italy, and I am glad to say that I have the same 
conceptions that they have of the significance and scope of the duty 
on which we have met. 

We have used great words, all of us have used th^ great words, 
"Eight" and "Justice," and now we are to prove whether or not 
we understand these words, and how they are to be applied to the 
particular settlements which must conclude this war. And we 
must not only understand them, but we must have the courage to 
act upon our understanding. 

Yet, after I have uttered the word, "Courage," it comes into my 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 263 

mind that it would take more courage to resist the great moral 
tide now running in the world than to yield to it, than to obey it. 

There is a great tide running in the hearts of men. The hearts 
of men have never beaten so singularly in unison before. Men 
have never before been so conscious of their brotherhood. Men 
have never before realized how little difference there was between 
right and justice in one latitude and in another, under one sov- 
ereignty and under another. 

And it will be our high privilege, I believe, Sir, not only to apply 
the moral judgment of the world to the particular settlements which 
we shall attempt, but also to organize the moral force of the world 
to preserve those settlements, to steady the forces of mankind, and 
to make the right and the justice to which great nations like our own 
have devoted themselves, the predominant and controlling force of 
the world. 

There is something inspiring in knowing that this is the errand 
that we have come on. Nothing less than this would have justified 
me in leaving the important tasks which fall upon me upon the 
other side of the sea, nothing but the consciousness that nothing 
else compares with this in dignity and importance. 

Freedom of the City of London was bestowed in Guildhall on 
the afternoon of Saturday the 28th. Replying to the address 
of the Lord Mayor, the President spoke more definitely than h& 
had yet spoken on the issues of peace. 

When this war began the thought of a League of Nations was 
indulgently considered as the interesting thought of closeted stu- 
dents. It was thought of as one of those things that it was right 
to characterize by a name which, as a university man, I have always 
resented. It was said to be academic, as if that in itself were a 
condemnation, something that men could think about, but never 
get. Now we find the practical leading minds of the world deter- 
mined to get it. 

And back of us is that imperative yearning of the world to have 
all disturbing questions quieted, to have all threats against peace 
silenced, to have just men everywhere come together for a common 
object. The peoples of the world want peace, and they want it now, 
not merely by conquest of arms, but by agreement of mind. 

It was this incomparably great object that brought me overseas. 
It has never before been deemed excusable for a President of the 
tJnited States to leave the territory of the United States, but I 



264 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

know tliat I have the support of the judgment of my colleagues in 
the Government of the United States in saying that it was my 
paramount duty to turn away even from the imperative tasks at 
home to lend such counsel and aid as I could to this great, may I 
not say final?, enterprise of humanity. 

Sunday was passed at Carlisle, where his grandfather, 
Thomas Woodrow, had preached and taught, and where his 
mother was born. There he received the freedom of the city, 
signed the freemen's roll, and standing by request in the pulpit 
where his grandfather had preached during thirty-seven years, 
made a short address. 

That afternoon the President went on to Manchester, was 
greeted with great enthusiasm, was given the freedom of the 
city. 

That part of the speech in which the President said that "if 
the future had nothing for us hut a new attempt to keep the 
world at a right poise by a balance of power the United States 
would take no interest, because she will join no combination 
of power which is not a combination of all of us," was read 
with especial interest both at home and abroad, because on 
Sunday night, December 29th, Clemenceau, speaking in the 
French Chamber of Deputies, declared for a new balance of 
power. "There is an old system," said he, "which appears 
condemned to-day and to which I do not fear to say that I 
remain faithful at this moment. Countries have organized for 
the defense of their frontiers with the necessary elements and 
the balance of power. This system appears to be condemned by 
some very high authorities. N^evertheless, I will remark that if 
such a balance had preceded the war, that if America, England, 
France and Italy had got together in declaring that whoever 
attacked one of them must expect to see the three others take 
up the common defense." Here he was interrupted by applause 
and disorder, but when he could be heard again said : "This is 
the system of alliances which I do not renounce, I say it most 
distinctly, my guiding thought at the conference, if your body 
permits me to go there, and I believe that nothing should sep- 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 265 

arate after the war the four great powers that the war has 
■united. To this Entente I will make all sacrifices." Here, 
seemingly, was a sharp difference of opinion; but no unfavor- 
able comment was made, though not a little surprise was occa- 
sioned. 

There is, it was said, no real difference in the aims of the 
two men. All M. Clemenceau says of the difference, or better, 
the contrast, between the position of France as he states it, and 
the position of America as Mr. Wilson states it, is strictly true. 
France sees and feels what a German invasion means, and 
demands a sure safeguard against the recurrence of a danger 
she narrowly escaped, and the horrible suffering her people still 
endure. Mr. Wilson is equally determined to protect her against 
such evils for all time to come, and finds it in a League of 
J^ations. M. Clemenceau is skeptical of such an untried 
League, and trustful of an Entente of the four great powers of 
the world. Both seek the same goal. 

December 31 the President left England for Calais and 
Paris, and on the night of !N"ew Year's Day departed for Italy. 
At the frontier he was met by a distinguished party and escorted 
to Home. The journey across Italy resembled a triumphant 
procession, for Italy was determined to be second to none of the 
Allies in the heartiness and sincerity of her greeting. At the 
station in Rome he was welcomed by the King, the Queen, mem- 
bers of the Government and of the municipality, was escorted 
thence through a gorgeously decorated city to luncheon with the 
Queen Mother, and was formally received by the members of 
the Senate and Chamber of Deputies. To them he made an 
address and again declared against another balance of power. 

The distinguishing fact of this war is that great empires have 
gone to pieces. And the characteristics of those empires are that 
they held different peoples reluctantly together under the coercion 
of force and the guidance of intrigue. 

The great difficulty among such States as those of the Balkans 
has been that they were always accessible to secret influence; and 
they were always penetrated by intrigue of some sort or another; 



266 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

tliat nortli of them lay disturbed populations wtiicli were held to- 
gether not by sympathy and friendship, but by the coercive force 
of a military power. 

Now the intrigue is checked and the bonds are broken, and what 
we are going to provide is a new cement to hold the people together. 
They have not been accustomed to being independent. They must 
now be independent. 

I am sure that you recognize the principle, as I do, that it is 
not our privilege to say what sort of a government they should set 
up. But we are friends of those people, and it is our duty as their 
friends to see to it that some kind of protection is thrown around 
them, something supplied which will hold them together. 

There is only one thing that holds nations together, if you exclude 
force, and that is friendship and good will. The only thing that 
binds men together is friendship, and by the same token the only 
thing that binds nations together is friendship. Therefore, our 
task at Paris is to organize the friendship of the world, to see to 
it that all the moral forces that make for right, and justice, and 
liberty are united, and are given a vital organization to which the 
peoples of the world will readily and gladly respond. 

In other words, our task is no less colossal than this; to set up 
a new international psychology; to have a new real atmosphere. I 
am happy to say that in my dealings with the distinguished gen- 
tlemen who lead your nation, and those who lead France and Eng- 
land, I feel that atmosphere gathering, that desire to do justice, 
that desire to establish friendliness, that desire to make peace rest 
upon right, and with this common purpose no obstacles need be 
formidable. 

The only use of an obstacle is to be overcome. All that an ob- 
stacle does with brave men is not to frighten them, but to challenge 
them. So that it ought to be our pride to overcome everything that 
stands in the way. 

We know that there cannot be another balance of power. That 
has been tried and found wanting, for the best of all reasons that 
it does not stay balanced inside itself, and cannot constitute a 
makeweight in the affairs of men. 

Therefore, there must be something substituted for the balance 
of power, and I am happy to find everywhere in the air of these 
great nations, the conception that that thing must be a thoroughly 
united league of nations. 

What men once considered theoretical and idealistic turns out 
to be practical and necessary. We stand at the opening of a new 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 267 

age in which a new statesmanship will, I am confident, lift man- 
kind to new levels of endeavor and achievement. 

While the President was thus receiving the greetings of the 
Italians he found it necessary to ask Congress by cable to ap- 
propriate a hundred million dollars to relieve the suffering from 
want of food in Europe. Mr. Hoover's appeal, in September, 
for food conservation was made on the supposition that the 
war would end in 1919, or at the latest in 1920. The sudden 
collapse of Germany, and the armistice in iNovember, led pur 
people to suppose that with fighting over, the need for food 
would not be so great. The Food Administrator, however, had 
no sooner begun his work abroad than he realized that the need 
was greater than ever. A new appeal was therefore made, and 
December 1 a new campaign, a "food conservation week for 
world relief," was started. It was opened on Sunday, Decem- 
ber 1, by the reading in churches of all denominations the coun- 
try over, of a message to the people from Mr. Hoover on 
"America's opportunity for renewed service and sacrifice." At 
the food conference in London during the summer, our country, 
he said, was pledged to meet whatever "food program" the. 
Allies arranged. The Allies need not consider whether we had 
or had not the supplies; we would find them. The ending of 
the war did not release us from the pledge. Freeing the seas 
from the submarine menace had indeed made available the 
wheat of India, Australia and Argentina; but the demand on 
our country was not lessened ; on the contrary, it was increased. 
Besides supplying those to whom we were pledged, we now had 
the splendid opportunity of feeding millions of people in the 
once occupied territories, people who were facing starvation. 
Belgium, northern France, Serbia, Roumania, Montenegro, 
Poland, Russia, Armenia relied on us for help. Two hundred 
million people, besides those to whom we were pledged, "looked 
to us in their misery and famine." The President had asked 
him "to perfect and enlarge the arrangements for foodstuffs for 
the populations of Belgium and France then being released, and 



268 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

determine the food need of the peoples of Southern Europe, that 
the evil days which had come to Russia might not come to 
them." His new appeal therefore was larger than the old, and 
was made not to the war conscience, hut to the world conscience. 
Our people had an opportunity to demonstrate not only their 
ahility to help in estahlishing peace on earth, hut also "their 
consecration, hy self-denial, to the cause of suffering humanity." 
As Mr. Hoover continued his investigations he became more 
and more impressed with the gravity of his task. All Northern 
France he found in ruin. "The entire industrial life of the 
region," he reported late in December, "has been destroyed by 
the Germans." Scarce a factory could be operated without new 
equipment ; the coal mines were totally destroyed ; the railways 
could not be made usable for many months. Hand grenades 
had been exploded under each rail, to bend and make it useless 
for all time. The Grand Canal du E'ord, the great artery of 
trade between France and Belgium, had been fought over, and 
could not be rebuilt for a year. After four years of business 
paralysis, the destruction of towns, cities, shops, trades had 
absolutely disappeared and the people were dependent on rations 
just as they had been during German occupation. Destruction 
of twenty important cities and hundreds of villages made the 
return of their former inhabitants impossible. Every effort was 
being made to prevent their return, but despite official warnings 
they were going in such numbers that the roads were "a con- 
tinuous procession of these pitiable bodies." Thousands, finding 
every vestige of shelter gone where once their village stood, 
wandered back to villages without the battle area which were 
"already overcrowded to a heart-breaking degree." To relieve 
this situation the Commission for Relief in Belgium had ob- 
tained a hundred and fifty volunteers from the Navy, and with 
"second-hand barrack material" were building shelters close to 
the ruined villages. Boots and shoes and warm clothing, ob- 
tained from the quartermasters' supplies, had been distributed ; 
the French Government was seeking cattle and horses in 
Switzerland, and these, with a meager supply of agricultural 



THE PRESIDENT GOES ABROAD 269 

implements, might enable these homeless people to plant crops 
in such parts of the country as were not too badly destroyed by 
battle. 

The first cargo of foodstuffs had arrived at Trieste, and more 
was due to reach ports in the Adriatic early in January, all 
destined for Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, where the distress was 
"very acute." The only connection by railroad was from the 
Adriatic, for the Bulgarians had destroyed that from Saloniki. 
Belief agents had already gone to Belgrade and. to Warsaw to 
take charge of relief work in Poland. Another was going to 
Vienna, where the supply of food could not last more than ten 
days. American and Allied ministers in Roumania had tele- 
graphed that food supplies would not last more than thirty days. 
It was the situation in these countries which led the President 
to ask for a hundred million dollars. After several weeks of 
debate the money was appropriated with no little reluctance. 

At Genoa, the President, standing at the foot of the statue of 
Columbus, spoke to a dense crowd of people of that city. At 
Milan where the shouting crowds surpassed any he had yet 
seen, five speeches were made. 



CHAPTEE VII 

THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

Tuesday, January 7, 1919, found the President, back at 
Paris. Eight weeks had then passed since the ISTovemher morn- 
ing when the armistice was signed ; yet no meeting of the Peace 
Conference had been held. Indeed, some of the Powers had 
not named all their delegates. Time, however, was not wasted, 
for issues of great importance had been freely discussed, at 
home and abroad, in the press, and by statesmen, by party 
leaders, and by men of affairs. Some thought a general peace 
should be the first business of the Conference, leaving the terri- 
torial settlement of the Balkans, the freedom of the seas, and 
the League of JSTations to be decided after peace was made. 
This was the wish of the French and British. Others thought 
the League of JSTations was of the utmost importance, and should 
be among the first matters taken up for settlement. This was 
understood to be the opinion of President Wilson. Discussion 
of the League brought forth many plans. Lieutenant General 
Smuts of the British War Cabinet had one ; Lord Robert Cecil 
another, and M. Leon Bourgeois a third, said to be the French 
idea. The Am erican plan had not been announced, when, on 
Sunday, the twelfth of January, the Supreme War Council, 
composed of President Wilson, and the Premiers and Foreign 
Ministers of Great Britain, France, Italy, and the United 
States, held its first informal meeting. JSTo official statement of 
what happened was made public. ISTevertheless, it was under- 
stood that the method, of procedure for the conference about to 
open, how many delegates each power should be allowed, and 
the conditions on which the armistice, about to expire on Jan- 
uary lY, should be extended, were all deliberately considered. 

270 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 271 

Wliat should be done to Germany was of pressing importance, 
for she had been slow in delivering war material required to be 
given up by the terms of the armistice, and was reported to be 
hindering the Poles in the organization of their government, 
and in defending themselves against the advancing Bolshevist 
forces. 

Proceedings on the second day, Monday the thirteenth, were 
in two sessions. In the morning military and naval men, finan- 
ciers and economists, met and determined on what new terms 
the armistice should be extended. They included, the official 
report announced, "naval clauses, financial clauses, conditions 
of supply, and provisions for the restitution of material and 
machinery stolen from France and Belgium by the Germans," 
and were laid before the Council when it assembled in the after- 
noon. Delegates from Japan then attended. Methods of pro- 
cedure were also discussed, and the decision reached, "that the 
first full session of the Peace Conference should take place on 
Saturday, January 18." "We finished first of all," said Pre- 
mier Clemenceau, "with the armistice, and there, I think, we 
did good work. Then we continued our examination of the 
procedure for the conference, notably the representation of the" 
small powers. As to the conference itself which should meet 
on Thursday, it had to be postponed until Saturday on account 
of the absence of the Italian Premier, Signer Orlando." A 
cabinet crisis had forced him to return to Kome. Rumor had 
it that the new terms for prolonging the armistice would require 
the punishment of the Germans for the murder and ill-treat- 
ment of Allied prisoners of war ; the removal of £100,000,000 
in gold to a safe place, and its protection while on the way 
from Bolshevists ; the surrender of all TJ-boats on the stocks and 
a guarantee that not another one should be constructed. One 
hundred and seventy, it was said, were under construction in 
German yards. 'No official orders having been received to stop 
building, the work went on automatically, despite the armistice, 
and the knowledge that they must in the end be delivered to the 
Allies. 



272 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

How many delegates each nation should have was determined 
on Wednesday, and what was of far more immediate impor- 
tance, word was given out that nothing about the doings of the 
Peace Conference was to be disclosed save what was contained 
in the daily communique, and that, by a gentlemen's agreement, 
the delegates would neither discuss, nor in any way give in- 
formation about, the proceedings of the meetings of the Council. 
Correspondents of British journals at once drew up a protest, 
and put it in the hands of Lloyd George; the American news- 
paper men joined in a protest to President Wilson, On Friday 
the Supreme Council yielded, and ruled that representatives of 
the press should "be admitted to the meetings of the full con- 
ference," but, when necessary, deliberations might "be held in 
camera," and gave its reasons. Proceedings of a Peace Con- 
ference resembled more closely those of a Cabinet than those of 
a legislature. Nobody had ever suggested that cabinet meetings 
be held in public. Kepresentatives of the Allied powers were 
holding conversations in order to solve questions of vital "im- 
portance to many nations, and on which they might hold many 
different views." These deliberations could not proceed by the 
method of a majority vote. 'No nation could be bound save by 
the free vote of its own delegates. Decisions must be reached 
by the difficult process of agreement which would be hindered 
if every disputed question were attended by a premature public 
controversy, in each nation. Give and take, on the part of 
delegates, so essential to successful negotiations, would become 
most difficult, proceedings would be protracted, and the dele- 
gates forced to concern themselves, not merely with the business 
before the Conference, but also with the controversies raised 
outside by the account of their proceedings. 

At home the matter was taken up in the United States Sen- 
ate, and after Senators of both parties had denounced secrecy 
at the peace conference as an abandonment of the first of the 
President's fourteen points, it was agreed that, should the Con- 
ference persist in its decision to hold secret sessions, a resolu- 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 273 

tion demanding open sessions would be presented, adopted, and 
sent to Versailles. 

On Saturday, the nineteenth, at three o'clock in the after- 
noon, the long desired Peace Conference was formally opened 
in the gorgeous Salle de Pcdx of the Foreign Ministry, and to 
this representatives of the press of all nations were freely ad- 
mitted. Proceedings on that day were confined to an address 
of welcome by President Poincare ; speeches by President Wil- 
son, Lloyd George, Baron Sonnino, and Premier Clemenceau; 
and to the election of a President of the Conference. 

At precisely three o'clock, the delegates having assembled in 
the Council Chamber, a roll of drums and blare of trumpets 
announced the arrival of President Poincare, who was escorted 
to the head of the great horseshoe-shaped table, and at once ad- 
dressed the standing delegates. When he finished speaking 
President Wilson nominated as permanent chairman M. Cle- 
menceau. Premier Lloyd George seconded the nomination ; M. 
Clemenceau was unanimously elected, and in turn made a 
speech, which closed the session. 

Daily sittings of the Conference were not to be held. The 
program of proceedings, M. Clemenceau stated, would cover^ 
three main subjects : Responsibility of the authors of the war; 
responsibility for the crimes committed during the war ; legisla- 
tion in regard to international labor. All powers represented 
would be requested to present memoranda on these subjects, and 
the powers specially concerned other memoranda on territorial, 
financial and economic questions. On these memoranda the 
Supreme Council of the five great powers would deliberate, 
decide at once, or invite the delegates of the powers most con- 
cerned to discuss the issues with the Council. The League of 
[Nations, he said, would be the first question considered when 
the Peace Conference met again. 

On Monday, January 21, the Supreme Council resumed its 
sittings and in the course of a few days, having listened to a 
description of conditions in Russia, by the French Ambassador 
just returned from Archangel, and by the Danish Minister fresh 



274 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

from Petrograd, announced the policy of the Allies towards 
Russia. In their discussions, they said, the sole object of the 
Associated Powers had been to help, not to hinder, the Russian 
people, not to interfere in any manner with their right to settle 
their own affairs in their own way. The Allies had no desire 
to exploit or make use of Russia. They recognized the revolu- 
tion without reservation, and would in no way, and under no 
circumstances, give countenance to a counter revolution, nor 
favor, nor aid any one of the organized groups contending for the 
leadership of Russia. The associated powers had no other pur- 
pose than to bring to Russia peace, and an opportunity to find a 
way out of the troubles that beset her. They were engaged in 
the solemn duty of establishing peace in Europe, and in the 
world ; but there could be no peace in Europe and in the world 
while there was strife in Russia. To this end, therefore, they 
invited every organized group exercising, or seeking to exercise, 
political authority, or military control, anywhere in Siberia, or 
anywhere within the boundaries of Russia as she was before 
the war, Finland alone excepted, to send not more than three 
representatives each to meet, on Eebruary 15, delegates from 
the associated Powers, on the Island of Prinkipo, one of the 
group known as the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmora, 
some eight miles southeast of Constantinople. These groups 
were the Lenine Bolshevist Government, the Representative 
Constituent Assembly, the Government of Omsk, the Kieff Gov- 
ernment, the Esthonian, Lithuanian, and Lettish Governments, 
Denikin's Government, the Archangel Government, the Tiflis 
Government, the Central Committee of the Revolutionary 
Socialist Party, the League of Russian Regeneration, the Rep- 
resentative Central Committee of the Social Democratic Party, 
and certain bodies in the Caucasus. Meantime there must be a 
truce of arms amongst the parties invited, and all armed forces 
sent against any people or territory within the bounds of old 
Russia, against Einland, against any people or territory, "whose 
autonomous action" was "in contemplation in the fourteen ar- 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 275 

tides upon which the present negotiations are based," must be 
"withdrawn and aggressive military actions cease." 

!N^o sooner was the policy of Council towards Russia made 
known than there arose a storm of opposition. Sergius Saza- 
noff, one-time Foreign Minister under the Czar, and then rep- 
resenting the Government of Yskaterinodar and the Siberian 
Government at Omsk, declared he would not go to Prinkipo to 
confer with representatives of the Russian factions. He would 
"not sit with assassins." Prince Lvoff, former Russian Pre- 
mier, condemned the action of the Council. "We never thought 
the Conference would begin its work for peace by renewing 
relations with our tyrants. The Bolsheviki have won their 
greatest victory in Paris. The decision of the Council is one 
of danger not only to us but to the whole world. It gives new 
impetus to anarchy." 

In England the press was sharply divided on the expediency 
of the Marmora Conference. We hope, said one journal, the 
Morning Post, the Russian Bolsheviki will be duly grateful to 
the Peace Conference. They have not indeed been invited to 
Paris. But they have been invited to the Sea of Marmora,, 
where the Allies propose to leave their cards on them. Our^ 
Russian friends will also be duly gratified. The Bolsheviki 
could not sit down to table with us. That would be a crime 
and a scandal. But with our Russian friends — ^why, with them, 
it is a different matter. The Bolsheviki have robbed them; 
murdered their fathers, or brothers, or paid Chinese coolies to 
murder them; committed unspeakable outrages upon their 
wives and daughters; murdered the Czar and the whole royal 
family, and, no longer ago than January 2, shot in cold blood 
seven hundred and fifty British officers returning home from 
prison camps in Germany. And now the Allies, their Allies, 
ask them to come and sit around a table with them, and come 
to a happy arrangement. If it is done the Sea of Marmora will 
thenceforth rank with the Sea of Galilee.. 

The Daily Telegraph believed that to have any dealings with 
the Bolsheviki, guilty of such acts as they were guilty of, was a 



276 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

grave mistake, and extremely bad policy. Encouragement was 
the one thing likely to foster the growth of Bolshevism, and if 
the proposals of the Conference did not involve tacit acceptance 
of, and encouragement of, the forces of Trotsky and Lenine, 
"we really do not know what they do mean." 

The London Times thought the act of the Conference was all 
for the best. The meeting might, or might not, take place. In 
either case it would be "impossible for the Bolsheviki in Russia 
to keep on any more." If they did not attend the Marmora 
meeting they would "reveal themselves as enemies of the human 
race." And whatever step the Conference might find it neces- 
sary to take would have popular approval behind it. If they 
came and behaved reasonably, the gain would be still greater. 
"We shall have made the peace of Europe secure without further 
fighting." 

The Manchester Guardian warmly supported the proposal; 
the Westminster Gazette claimed that the reasons which favored 
the Marmora meeting greatly outweighed all that could be said 
against it. 

The Council of Russian National and Democratic Political 
Organizations Abroad protested to M. Clemenceau. "We should 
be men without honor and courage if we accepted, for a single 
moment, a truce such as proposed to us, while all that are dear 
are in danger of death, violent death by execution or assassina- 
tion, or slow death through hunger." According to the French 
Socialist newspaper, L'Humanite, the Bolshevist Government 
at Moscow was surprised that the invitation came at a time 
when the Bolsheviki were victorious in the field. Vasili Mak- 
lakoff, the last Russian Ambassador to France, thought it 
strange that France should, in December, when stating her 
attitude towards Bolshevism, declare she "would never have 
anything to do with crime," and, in January, join in the pro- 
posal to hold a conference with the Bolsheviki at Princes' 
Island. In our own country the Russians pointed out that the 
offer came at a moment most fortunate for the Bolsheviki. 
Beaten by the Esthonians, driven out of Perm, defeated in the 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 277 

Don country, checked on the Archangel front, and with Trotsky 
about to abandon Petrogi-ad, the Bolsheviki were sorely in need 
of just such a respite as this offer would afford. At !N"ew York, 
the Russian Economic League, learning from newspaper re- 
ports that it had been proposed to admit "agents of the so-called 
Bolshevist government" to the Peace Conference, protested 
bitterly against any dealings with such men. In the United 
States Senate, on the other hand, the offer found support. One 
Senator thought it a most fortunate agreement among the 
Powers, a start towards solving the Russian problem, an en- 
couraging augury for the ultimate settlement of Russian affairs 
by the Russian people themselves. Another was thoroughly in 
favor of the offer. It was a hopeful and encouraging thing. 
Russia ought to have the right of self-determination of her own 
affairs. A third was opposed. With the record of the perfidy 
of Trotsky and Lenine before us, with the proof we have that 
they acted as the agents of Germany, in view of the bloody class 
warfare they have carried on, and because of their denuncia- 
tion of our own nation, and the democratic principles on which 
it is founded, he failed to see how the Peace Conference could, 
with honor to itself, or a decent regard for the nations it repre- 
sented, have any dealings with the Bolsheviki. 

Having decided on its policy towards Russia, the Supreme 
Council called a full session of the Peace Conference for the 
afternoon of Saturday, January 25, to take up for consideration 
the plan of Lloyd George for a League of Nations. 

Meanwhile the Council went on with its work. It conferred 
with the military leaders as to strength of the Allied forces to 
be kept on the western front during the armistice, and ap- 
pointed a committee to consider the question. It took up 
"territorial readjustments," in connection with the conquest of 
the German Colonies, and sent out, by wireless, a warning to 
those using armed force to gain possession of territory "the 
rightful claim to which the Peace Conference is to be asked to 
determine." 



278 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

The governments now associated in conference to effect a lasting 
peace among the nations are deeply disturbed by the news which 
comes to them of the many instances in which armed force is being 
made use of in many parts of Europe, and the east, to gain pos- 
session of territory, the rightful claim to which the Peace Confer- 
ence is to be asked to determine. They deem it their duty to utter 
a solemn warning that possession gained by force will seriously 
prejudice the claims of those who use this means. It will create 
the presumption that those who employ force doubt the justice and 
validity of their claims, and purpose to substitute possession for 
proof of right, and set up sovereignty by coercion rather than by 
racial or national preference, and natural historical association. 
They thus put a cloud upon every evidence of title they may after- 
ward allege, and indicate their distrust of the Conference itself. 

Nothing but the most unfortunate results can ensue. If they 
expect justice they must refrain from force and place their claims 
in unclouded good faith in the hands of the conference of peace. 

To the Peace Conference, when it met in full session on 
Saturday, President Wilson said in substance: They were as- 
sembled for two purposes, to bring about settlements made nec- 
essary by the war, and to secure the peace of the world. A 
League of N^ations seemed necessary, fo^ both these purposes. 
It might well be that many of the settlements arranged by the 
Conference would need to be altered later. Some machinery, 
therefore, by which the work of the Conference could be made 
final was most desirable. But there was more to be done than 
satisfy "governmental circles." The opinion of mankind must 
be satisfied. The delegates to the Conference were "not the 
representatives of governments, but representatives of the 
people," and were bidden, by these people, "to make a peace 
that will make them secure." 

In a sense, the United States is less interested in this subject 
than the other nations here assembled. With her great territory 
and her extensive sea borders, it is less likely that the United States 
should suffer from the attacks of enemies than that other nations 
should suffer. And the ardor of the United States — for it is a very 
deep and genuine ardor — for the society of nations is not an ardor 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 279 

springing out of fear or apprehension, but an ardor springing out 
of the ideals which have come in the consciousness of this war. 

In coming into this war the United States never for a moment 
thought that she was intervening in the politics of Europe, or the 
politics of Asia, or the politics of any part of the world. Her 
thought was that all the world had now become conscious that there 
was a single cause of justice and of liberty for men of every kind 
and place. 

Therefore, the United States should feel that its part in this 
war should be played in vain if there ensued upon it abortive 
European settlements. It would feel that it could not take part in 
guaranteeing those European settlements unless that guarantee in- 
volved the continuous superintendence of the peace of the world by 
the associated nations of the world. 

Therefore, it seems to me that we must concert our best judgment 
in order to make this League of Nations a thing sometimes called 
into life to meet an exigency, but always functioning in watchful 
attendance upon the interests of the nations, and that its con- 
tinuity should be a vital continuity, its functions continuing func- 
tions, that do not permit an intermission of its watchfulness and 
of its labor; that it should be the eye of the nations, to keep watch 
upon the common interest, an eye that did not slumber, an eye 
that was everywhere watchful and attentive. 

And if we do not make it vital, what shall we do? We shall dis- 
appoint the expectations of the peoples. This is what their thought 
centers upon. 

Gentlemen, the select classes of mankind are no longer the gov- 
ernors of mankind. The fortunes of mankind are now in the hands 
of the plain people of the whole world. Satisfy them, and you have 
justified their confidence not only, but have established peace. Eail 
to satisfy them, and no arrangement that you can make will either 
set up or steady the peace of the world. 

You can imagine, I dare say, the sentiments and the purpose 
with which the representatives of the United States support this 
great project for a League of Nations. We regard it as the keynote 
of the whole, which expressed our purposes and ideals in this war 
and which the associated nations have accepted as the basis of a 
settlement. 

If we return to the United States without having made every 
effort in our power to realize this program, we should return to 
meet the merited scorn of our fellow-citizens. For they are a 



280 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

body that constitute a great democracy. They expect their leaders to 
speak; their representatives to be their servants. 

We have no choice but to obey their mandate. But it is with 
the greatest enthusiasm and pleasure that we accept that mandate. 
And because this is the keynote of the whole fabric, we have pledged 
our every purpose to it, as we have to every item of the fabric. We 
would not dare abate a single item of the program which consti- 
tutes our instructions; we would not dare to compromise upon any 
matter as the champion of this thing — this peace of the world, this 
attitude of justice, this principle that we are the masters of no 
peoples, but are here to see that every people in the world shall 
choose its own masters and govern its own destinies, not as we wish, 
but as they wish. 

We are here to see, in short, that the very foundations of this 
war are swept away. Those foundations were the private choice 
of a small coterie of civil rulers and military staffs. Those founda- 
tions were the aggression of great powers upon the small. Those 
foundations were the holding together of empires of unwilling sub- 
jects by the duress of arms. Those foundations were the power of 
small bodies of men to wield their will and use mankind as pawns 
in a game. 

And nothing less than the emancipation of the world from these 
things will accomplish peace. 

When the President had finished his speech Lloyd George 
rose and said: 

Had I the slightest doubt as to the wisdom of this League of 
Nations, it would have vanished before the spectacle as I saw it 
last Sunday, when I visited a region which, but a few years ago, 
was one of the fairest in this very fair land. 

We drove for hours through what was a wilderness of desolation. 
It did not look like a country where there were habitations of men, 
but it was torn and shattered and rent beyond all recognition. We 
visited one city, which had been very beautiful, but where we saw 
scenes which no indemnity can ever make good. 

One of the cruelest features was the knowledge that Frenchmen, 
who love their land almost more than any other people, had had 
to assist the enemy in demolishing their own homes. I said to 
myself that it is surely time we set up some other method to settle 
quarrels than this organized slaughter. 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 281 

I do not know if we shall succeed in our enterprise, but it is 
already a success that we have undertaken it. 

Before the session closed for the day the Conference unani- 
mously resolved : That it was necessary for the maintenance of 
the world settlement about to be established that a League of 
Nations be formed to promote international obligations, and 
prevent war; that the League be an integral part of the treaty 
of peace; that it be open to every civilized nation; that its 
members meet periodically; and that there be a permanent 
organization with secretaries to carry on business between the 
meetings. Having reached this decision it was determined that 
a committee, representative of the associated governments, be 
appointed to frame the constitution, and arrange the duties of 
the League, and draft resolutions in respect to breaches of the 
laws of war, for the consideration of the Peace Conference. 
A commission of two representatives of each of the five great 
powers, and five to be elected by the other powers, it was 
ordered, should consider and report on the responsibility of the 
authors of the war ; on the facts as to breaches of the laws and 
customs of war by the forces of the German Empire, and their- 
allies, on land, on sea, and in the air during the war; on the 
degree of responsibility for these offenses attaching to par- 
ticular members of the enemies' forces, however Highly placed ; 
on tlie organization and procedure of a tribunal for the trial of 
these offenders, and on all other matters which might arise in 
the course of the inquiry, and which the commission might 
think it useful to consider. 

Another commission, composed of three representatives from 
each of the five great powers, and two each from Belgium, 
Greece, Poland, Roumania and Serbia, was to examine and 
report on the amount of reparation the enemy countries ought 
to pay, on what they could pay, and on the method, form and 
time within which the payment should be made. 

A third commission of two representatives from each of the 
five great powers and five elected by the nations represented at 



282 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

the Peace Conference was to inquire "into the conditions of 
employment from the international aspect," consider the "inter- 
national means necessary to secure common action on matters 
affecting conditions of employment," and suggest "the form of 
a permanent agency to continue such inquiry," in cooperation 
"with and under the direction of the League of JSTations." A 
fourth was "to report upon the international regime for ports, 
waterways and railways." 

Assignments of memberships on these conference committees 
were far from pleasing to the small nations. Belgium objected 
strongly, to the small number allotted her, and one after an- 
other delegates of other small nations rose to endorse her objec- 
tion. When they had finished Premier Clemenceau mildly 
reminded them that had it not been for the great Powers they 
might not have been at a peace conference. When the armistice 
was declared, he told them, the five powers which formed the 
Supreme Council, from whose program they dissented, had 
twelve million men under arms, and could count their dead by 
millions, and intimated that in all matters they should have 
most to say. The little powers were not convinced and Sunday 
was spent by the Belgians and the Serbians in framing protests 
to M. Clemenceau. Belgium and Serbia claimed that they had 
suffered, proportionally, as much as the great nations, and 
ought to have separate representation on the committees, and 
not be lumped with other small nations which had scarcely felt 
the horrors of the war. Three groups of nations, they sug- 
gested, should be formed: the five great powers, and Belgium! 
and Serbia which were great sufferers; nations which fought, 
but had not suffered as had Belgium and Serbia; and nations 
which declared war but did not take part, or much part, in the 
fighting. Representation they held should be according to these 
groups. 

Despite these protests no action was taken, and on Monday 
afternoon delegates of the nineteen small nations met under the 
chairmanship of M. Jules Cambon and quietly appointed their 
members of the Commissions, according to the decision of the 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 283 

Peace Conference on Saturday. While they were so engaged 
the Supreme Council formed two more commissions, one to 
deal with matters of finance, and one with questions of "private 
and maritime laws" ; continued the exchange of views on "the 
former German Colonies in the Pacific and the Far East"; 
and listened to the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs on 
colonial matters in which his country was especially concerned. 
On Tuesday, the 28th, this exchange of views was again con- 
tinued, and the delegates of Australia, N^ew Zealand, China, 
Japan, and the French Minister of the Colonies were heard. 
President Wilson contended that the German Colonies should 
be "internationalized," placed under the care of the League of 
[Nations. It was his wish that each colony taken over by the 
League should not be given outright to any nation, but should 
be watched over and governed by some Power under a mandate 
from the League of Nations. There were many objections to 
this plan. Australia claimed German ISTew Guinea and the 
Bismarck Archipelago; 'New Zealand claimed Samoa; Japan 
desired the Marshall and Caroline groups, and a secret treaty 
of 1916 between Great Britain and Japan gave the islands 
north of the equator to Great Britain and those south of the" 
line to Japan. China urged the return to her of Kiau-Chau, 
ceded by her under pressure to Germany, and taken from the 
Germans by Japan in the early days of the war. Both houses 
of the Federal Commonwealth of Australia, soon after the 
armistice, resolved that it was essential to the future safety and 
welfare of Australia that the captured German possessions in 
the Pacific, occupied by Australian and !New Zealand troops, 
should not, under any circumstances, be returned to Germany. 
And it was expected that Great Britain would stand by her 
colonies. Indeed, a part of the British press called upon their 
delegates to do so. The London Globe declared if they did not, 
the one-time German Colonies would fall under the control of a 
League of Nations that did not exist, and which no practical 
statesman approved. The Standard considered the possessioi?, 
of the Pacific Islands, and German Southwest Africa, as neces. 



284 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

sary to safeguard Australia and South. Africa. Australia was 
just as much interested in the annexation of the Pacific Islands 
as was the United States when she annexed Hawaii. The 
Morning Post declared that if the British delegates weakly per- 
sisted in their attitude of not supporting the Dominions, they 
were not only surrendering British interests intrusted to them, 
but were sowing the seeds of discontent which some day might 
disrupt the Empire. The League of I^ations, the world had 
been assured, was to be an international body for the purpose 
of keeping peace; but Mr. Wilson's proposal would make it the 
ruler of territory. The British Empire was to take its tenure 
from the League, and administer territories it had won in war. 
This would be an abrogation of sovereignty and ownership the 
British delegates had no right to make. The idea of making 
the British Government, or a Dominion Government, the serv- 
ant of an international superior was one the British people 
would never endure. Even the London Times thought that, by 
all laws of race, geography and convenience, it was far better 
to hand over Southwest Africa and the South Pacific Islands 
to the Dominions of South Africa, I^ew Zealand and Australia, 
than make them beneficiaries under reluctant trustees. 

The Westminster Gazette did not think the Dominions need 
be alarmed ; they were sure to be the mandatories of the terri- 
tories in question. Unable to come to a final decision, the 
Supreme Council agreed, as a provisional arrangement, that 
there should be no annexations of territory taken from the 
enemy ; that the people of civilized territory, wherever it might 
be, in Europe, Asia, Africa, or the Islands, should select the 
nations they were willing to have as mandatories, and that the 
League of JS^ations should choose the governments to administer 
the affairs of peoples too uncivilized for self-determination. As 
another step towards world pacification President Wilson now 
recognized the provisional government of Poland, and the 
Supreme Council directed the military representatives of the 
Allied and Associated Powers to report what military force 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 285 

was necessary to maintain order in Turkey, and what propor- 
tion each should contribute. 

Approach of the day set by the President for his return to 
Washington made the utmost speed necessary if he were to 
bring back with him, as he wished, the finished draft of the 
League of iN'ations. Speed accordingly was made, and in the 
course of a few days the Preamble and eleven of the two and 
twenty articles were accepted provisionally. It was then the 
seventh of February and the German Assembly, another body 
whose duty it was to frame a Constitution, was in session at 
Weimar. 

PoUowing the German practice of frightfulness and terror- 
ism. Chancellor Ebert, in his speech at the opening of the 
Assembly on the afternoon of February 6, denounced the terms 
of the armistice and threatened the Allies. The occasion called 
for a temperate and dignified speech outlining a policy of con- 
struction, and reminding the delegates of the solemn responsi- 
bilities which rest on those who, having pulled down one form 
of government, are about to set up another. But the Chancellor 
made no such speech. We are done, said he, with Princes and 
N^obles by the grace of God. The German people are now ruling- 
themselves. Need delivered the German people into the hands 
of their enemies, but we protest against their becoming slaves, 
for thirty, forty, or sixty years. He then denounced the expul- 
sion of Germans from Alsace, and the detention of 800,000 
prisoners of war; branded the terms of the armistice as "of 
unheard of severity," and as "carried out without shame," and 
warned "our adversaries not to push us too far." Like General 
Winterfeldt (who had resigned from the armistice commission), 
the whole German Government might eventually be forced to 
renounce collaborating in the peace discussions, and throw upon 
its adversaries all the weight of responsibility for the new world 
organization. Confident in the promises of President Wilson, 
"Germany lay down her arms, and we await the peace of 
President Wilson to which we have a right." 

Having listened to Ebert, the Assembly finished ita organ- 



286 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

ization, and on the fifth day of its session adopted a provisional 
Constitution for the German Empire, and elected Ebert Presi- 
dent of Germany. Opposition was made hy Independent 
Socialists to the frequent use in the Constitution of the word 
"empire." "Republic," it was insisted, should be used instead ; 
but opposition was of no avail and "empire" remained. 

Germany was thus provided with a government with which 
the Allies, and the Peace Conference, could deal. How would 
that body deal with her ? The Supreme War Council, accord- 
ing to report, was sharply divided as to the terms on which the 
armistice should be continued when it expired on February lY, 
and had referred the matter to a sub-committee. France de- 
manded the dismantling of the forts on the right bank of the 
Rhine, continued occupation of the left bank, reduction of the 
German army to twenty-five divisions, control of the Essen 
munition works by the Allies, and no lifting of the blockade. 
Against this the Americans, and those who opposed the French, 
contended that fair treatment of the neutrals of Europe, and 
of Germany, required that the blockade be lifted. Germany 
could not be reduced to economic helplessness, and at the same 
time be forced to pay her heavy war indemnities. Great 
Britain, said the French, is protected by the sea, and by a great 
fleet; three thousand miles of ocean part America and Ger- 
many; but one step will take a man from Germany to France. 
What guarantees has France that Germany, made stronger than 
ever by union with Austria, will not take that step? France 
must be protected for all time to come against the military and 
industrial aggression of Germany. There must be an inter- 
national army to enforce the decrees of the League of N'ations. 
As the work of the commission appointed to frame a plan for a 
League of Nations drew to a close, M. Leon Bourgeoise, there- 
fore, in the name of the French Government, presented an 
article providing for the creation of an international army. It 
was not accepted, and on Friday, February 14, President 
Wilson read to the Peace Conference the report of the Com- 
mission on the anxiously awaited plan. Representatives of 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 287 

fourteen nations, he said, had accepted it without a dissenting 
voice. ^ The event was epoch making. At last what had often 
seemed the wild dream of idealists had heen realized, and the 
great nations of both continents were about to bind themselves 
to keep the peace, and, if need be, force others to do the same. 

This instrument, as read by the President, consisted of a 
Covenant and a Constitution of the League of JSTations. As set 
forth in the Covenant, or Preamble, the signatory powers 
adopted the Constitution in order to "promote international 
cooperation and secure international peace and security," by 
binding themselves "not to resort to war"; by maintaining 
"open, just and honorable relations"; by firmly establishing 
international law; and by maintaining "justice and a scru- 
pulous respect for all treaty obligations." 

The Constitution, as yet, was but a report of a Commission 
to the Peace Conference, and subject to such amendments and 
additions as that body might think proper. [Not until finished 
and ratified was it binding on any nation. As drafted, the 
Constitution provided for a body of delegates and an Executive 
Council. The body of delegates was to consist of not more than 
three from each of the high contracting parties, and was to" 
meet from time to time and deal with matters within the sphere 
of the League, each power having one vote. The Executive 
Council was to be composed of delegates from the five great 
powers, and four others, selected by the Council in such manner 
as might seem fit, and was to meet at least once a year^ or as 
often as occasion might require, at the seat of the League, and 
deal with any matter within the sphere of the League, or affect- 
ing the peace of the world. There was to be a Secretary Gen- 
eral, and a "Secretariat" appointed by him and approved by 
the Executive Council. Representatives of the high contract- 
ing parties and officials of the League were to have diplomatic 
privileges and immunities, and buildings occupied by the 

*The nations were Great Britain, France, Italy, United States, Japan, 
Belgium, Brazil, China, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Poland, Portugal, Rou- 
mania, Serbia. 



288 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

League, its officers or representatives attending its meetings, 
were to have the benefits of extra territoriality. 

Self-governing States, not among the fourteen signatories, 
might be admitted to the League by a two-thirds vote of the 
States represented in the Council, but none should be admitted 
unless able to guarantee "its sincere intention to observe its 
international obligations," nor unless "it shall conform to such 
principles" as the League might prescribe for "its naval and 
military forces and armaments," 

The League recognized that maintenance of peace required 
"reduction of national armaments to the lowest point consistent 
with national safety, and the enforcement, by common action, 
of international obligations." On the Executive Council was 
laid the duty of framing a plan for such reductions, with due 
regard to the geographical situation and condition of each 
State ; of determining for the consideration of the several States 
what military equipment, and armament, were fair and reason- 
able; and advising how the evils of private manufacture of 
munitions and implements of war might be prevented without 
injury to states unable to manufacture enough for their own 
defense. A permanent commission was to advise the League 
on the execution of all these provisions, and on military and 
naval matters generally. 

Territorial integrity, and existing political independence, of 
all members of the League must be preserved against external 
aggression. War, or threat of war, was to be a matter of con- 
cern to the League which might take any action necessary to 
keep the peace of nations. 

Should a dispute, which could not be adjusted by the ordi- 
nary process of diplomacy, arise between the high contracting 
parties, they were in no case to resort to war without first sub- 
mitting the matters involved to arbitration, or to inquiry by 
the Executive Council, nor until three months after the arbitra- 
tors had made their award, or the Council its recommendation. 
Even then war must not be waged against a member of the 
League which accepted the award, or recommendation. 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 289 

There was to he a permanent court of international justice 
to hear and determine matters which the parties in dispute 
might consider suitable to be submitted for arbitration. Should 
any member Break the covenant regarding war, it was to be 
considered as having committed an act of war against all other 
members of the League, and be immediately subjected to a 
general boycott What military and naval force should be 
raised "to protect the covenants of the League," was for the 
Executive Council to decide. Each member State must afford 
passage through its territories "to the forces of any of the 
high contracting parties who are cooperating to protect the 
covenants of the League." 

There was to be general supervision, by the League, of the 
trade in arms and munitions with countries where control of 
this traffic was necessary; there were to be mandatories to ad- 
minister the affairs of colonies and territories "inhabited by 
peoples not yet able to stand by themselves" ; there was to be a 
permanent bureau of labor "to secure and maintain fair and 
humane conditions of labor for men, women and children"; 
there was to be "freedom of transit and equitable treatment for 
the commerce of all States members of the League" ; control of ^ 
international bureaus established by treaties, if the parties con- 
sented; registration with the Secretary General and prompt 
publication of all future treaties made by any member of the 
League ; and the abrogation of all obligations inconsistent with 
the terms of the Constitution. 

The instrument was not the work of any one man. It was 
composite, was made of selections from several plans, and in 
its lack of sequence and clarity showed unmistakable signs of 
haste. 

Having finished reading the plan, the President proceeded to 
discuss the document. The simplicity of the League, the body 
of delegates, the Executive Council, the Secretariat appealed to 
him. There was a universal feeling that the world would not 
rest satisfied if the deliberating body was composed merely of 
officials representing so many governments. It was impossible 



290 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

to have an assembly so large as to be representative of twelve 
hundred million people. But, with each government free to 
send one, two, or, if it pleased, three representatives, though 
with but one vote,' it might change its representation from time 
to time, and so gratify "the virtually universal opinion of plain 
men everywhere that they wanted the door left open to a variety 
of representation instead of being confined to a single official 
body." 

To safeguard the popular power of this representative body 
it was provided that, when a subject in dispute was submitted, 
it was not to arbitration, but for discussion, by the Executive 
Council. On demand of either party it could be drawn from 
the Executive Council to the body of delegates "because through 
this instrument we are depending primarily and chiefly upon 
one great force, and this is the moral force of the public opinion 
of the world." Armed force was in the background, but it was 
in the background, and if the moral force of the world did not 
suffice, the physical force of the world must. "But this is the 
last resort because this is intended as a constitution of peace, 
not a leagTie of war." 

He would say, therefore, of this document, ''that it is not a 
strait jacket, but a vehicle of life." 

A living thing is bom, and we must see to it what clothes we 
put on it now. It is not a vehicle of power, but a vehicle in which 
power may be varied at the discretion of those who exercise it and 
in accordance with the changing circumstances of the time. And 
yet, while it is elastic, while it is general in its terms, it is definite 
in the one thing that we were called to make definite. It is a 
definite guarantee of peace. It is a definite guarantee against the 
things which have just come near bringing the whole structure of 
civilization into ruin. 

Its purposes do not for a moment lie vague. Its purposes are 
declared and its powers are unmistakable. It is not in contemplation 
that this should be merely a league to secure the peace of the world. 
It is a league which can be used for cooperation in any interna- 
tional matter. That is the significance of the provision introduced 
concerning labor. There are many ameliorations of labor conditions 
which can be effected by conference and discussion. I anticipate 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 291 

that there will be a great usefulness in the bureau of labor which 
it is contemplated shall be set up by the league. Men and women 
and children who work have been in the background through long 
ages and sometimes seemed to be forgotten while governments have 
had their watchful and suspicious eyes upon the maneuvers of one 
another, while the thought of statesmen has been about structural 
action and the larger transactions of commerce and of finance. 

N"ow, if lie could believe the picture which he saw, there came 
into the foreground the great body of the laboring people of 
the world, "the men and women and children upon whom the 
great burden of sustaining the world must from day to day fall, 
whether we wish it to do so or not; people who go to bed tired 
and wake up without the stimulation of lively hope. These 
people will be drawn into the field of international consultation 
and help, and will be among the wards of the combined govern- 
ments of the world." 

There was an imperative article concerning the publicity of 
all international agreements. "Henceforth no member of the 
league can claim any agreement valid which it has not regis- 
tered with the secretary general, in whose office, of course, it 
will be subject to the examining member of the league. And- 
the duty is laid upon the secretary general to publish every 
document of that sort at the earliest possible time." 

There was another provision in the covenant which, to his 
mind, was one of the greatest and most satisfactory advances 
that had yet been made. "We are done with annexations of 
helpless peoples, meant in some instances by some Powers to be 
used merely for exploitation. We recognize in the most solemn 
manner that the helpless and undeveloped peoples of the world, 
being in that condition, put an obligation upon us to look after 
their interests primarily before we use them for our interests; 
and that in all cases of this sort hereafter it shall be the duty 
of the league to see that the nations who are assigned as the 
tutors and advisers and directors of these peoples shall look to 
their interests and their development before they look to the 
interests and desires of the mandatory nation itself. 



292 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

"There had been no greater advance than this. If you looked 
back upon the history of the world you would see how helpless 
peoples have too often been a prey to Powers that had no con- 
science in the matter. One of the many distressing revelations 
of recent years was that the great Power which has just been, 
happily, defeated, put intolerable burdens and injustices upon 
the helpless people of some of the colonies which it annexed to 
itself; that its interest was rather their extermination than 
their development ; that the desire was to possess iheir land for 
European purposes, and not to enjoy their confidence in order 
that mankind might be lifted in these places to the next higher 
level. 

"ISTow the world, expressing its conscience in law, says, there 
is an end of that; that our consciences shall be settled to this 
thing. States will be picked out which have already shown that 
they can exercise a conscience in this matter, and under their 
tutelage the helpless peoples of the world will come into a new 
light and into a new hope." 

Lord Eobert Cecil for Great Britain, Leon Bourgeoise for 
France, Premier Orlando for Italy, endorsed the plan, the Con- 
ference adjourned at seven o'clock in the evening, and that night 
President Wilson left Paris for Brest, and on the morrow sailed 
for home. 

It was then time to arrange the new armistice terms, for the 
old would expire at five o'clock on the morning of Monday, 
February 17. Friday afternoon, therefore, Herr Erzberger 
and the German delegates met Marshal Foch at Treves, and 
were given the new terms. Efforts made by Erzberger to obtain 
modifications were of no avail. Foch sternly refused, but 
agreed, in order that they might be sent to Weimar, to allow 
the Germans until six o'clock on Sunday night to decide whether 
they would, or would not, accept. If reports from Weimar may 
b© trusted the Cabinet spent Saturday afternoon and night, and 
until dawn on Sunday morning, considering the terms, and then 
agreed on rejection. Before proceeding to act on this decision, 
however, leaders of all parties were hastily summoned, and con- 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 293 

suited, and having advised tlie Cabinet to accept, it did so, and, 
one hour before the time granted by Foch expired, the German 
delegates at Treves received instructions to sign. Ere they did 
so they were to present a note of protest to Marshal Foch. The 
German Government, it said, was aware of the serious conse- 
quences involved in either signing, or rejecting, the armistice, 
and when instructing its delegates to sign did so with the con- 
viction that the Allied and Associated Governments were striv- 
ing to restore peace to the world. Complaint was then made 
that the agreement wholly ignored the new German Govern- 
ment set up in an orderly way by the German people, and curtly 
ordered the evacuation, in favor of the insurgent Poles, of 
Birnbaum and Bentschen, and other important places. Ger- 
many promised to carry out the armistice terms she had not as 
yet succeeded in fulfilling, but assumed her obligations would 
not be interpreted in a manner incompatible with President 
Wilson's principles. She also protested against the provision 
that the Allies might end the armistice at any time on three 
days' notice. 

Scarcely had the President sailed from Brest when his pri- 
vate secretary at Washington made known to the Foreign 
Relations Committee of the Senate and House a message cabled 
from Paris the day before. Each article of the Constitution 
for the League of Nations, the President said, "was passed only 
after the most careful examination by each member of the 
Committee." There was good reason "for the phraseology and 
substance of each article." He requested, therefore, that he 
might go over the constitution, article by article, with the com- 
mittees, before it became "the subject of debate in Congress," 
and invited them to dine with him as soon as possible after his 
arrival in the United States. The President, it was announced, 
would land in Boston, and the dinner would be on February 
26. 

Leaders in the Senate were in no frame of mind to comply. 
Since the receipt of the President's request, said Senator Borah, 
his secretary has announced that he will speak in Boston. It 



294 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

seemed likely therefore that his request, that the Constitution 
of the League should not be debated, had been modified. There 
was a powerful propaganda under way in favor of the League. 
Ex-President Taft and his friends were traveling the country 
and speaking in its favor. The President would discuss it, the 
press, the people in clubs and hotel lobbies would discuss it, as 
they should. There was no reason then why the Senate, in an 
orderly fashion, should not debate it, and if that body had any 
self-respect, or mental courage, it would discuss it whenever it 
pleased. "The President," said Senator 'New, "does not want 
the Senate to talk, and yet talks to everybody. Now he pro- 
poses to talk in public, on his return, in Boston. But he does 
not want any one else to talk, neither the Senate, nor any one 
else." 

Opposition came chiefly, though not entirely, from the Re- 
publican members, who held that the Constitution of the 
League, if adopted, would force us to abandon the Monroe Doc- 
trine, give up much of our sovereignty and independence, do 
many things in flat contravention to express provisions in the 
Federal Constitution, and submit questions of foreign policy, 
and even of domestic policy, to the decision of a body in which 
there were eight foreign votes to one American. In support of 
this contention Articles VIII, X, XII, XVIII and XIX were 
cited. 

By Article VIII the Executive Council was vested with 
authority to determine for the consideration and action of the 
several governments what military and naval armament was 
fair and reasonable for the needs of each. Would not this be 
an impairment of the sovereignty and independence of the 
United States ? Was not the Government in duty bound to de^ 
fend the country ? What would the people on the Pacific Coast, 
in the Philippines, along our Mexican border, say to giving 
Japan and Mexico a vote in deciding how many ships, and how 
many soldiers we should be allowed to maintain ? ISTeither the 
President, nor the Senate, nor Congress, nor all combined, 
could make such a transfer, to foreign powers, of that inalien- 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 295 

able attribute of our sovereigntj, the right to decide for our- 
selves what shall constitute our means of defense. 

Article X bound the members of the League to preserve, 
against foreign aggression, the territorial integrity, and present 
political independence, of all States members of the League, 
and authorized the Executive Council to determine in what 
manner the obligation must be fulfilled. If, it was said, the 
territorial integrity of the British Empire is attacked, the 
United States must come to the rescue. We have no choice, for 
it will not be the people of the United States, nor the Congress 
of the United States, that is to decide, but the Executive Coun- 
cil, by the vote of eight foreign powers to one American. 
Should trouble arise on our continent, should our Republic be 
threatened by Mexico and her allies, are we to decide what is 
to be done ? Far from it. This Executive Council of foreigners 
will take jurisdiction and decide what shall be done in this 
purely American affair. Where then is the Monroe Doctrine ? 

Articles XII, XIII, XIV, XV and XVI may be taken to- 
gether, it was said. They provide that disputes shall be sub- 
mitted to arbitration, that the parties shall abide by the de-; 
cision, that in event of refusal the Council shall propose the 
steps "which can best be taken to give effect thereto" ; that no 
party shall go to war with any other party that complies with 
the recommendations, that if it does the "Council shall propose 
measures necessary to give effect to the recommendations," and 
that in case of a refusal to arbitrate the offending party shall 
"be deemed to have committed an act of war" against all other 
members of the League, and the Council shall decide what naval 
and military force each member of the League shall contribute 
to coerce the refractory party. Does this mean, it was asked, 
that in a Magdalena Bay affair we must not only submit our 
case to this foreign tribunal, but abide by the decision ? Where 
then is the Monroe Doctrine ? Does it mean if we do not abide 
by the decision we must meet a world in arms ? 

Article XVIII gives to the League supervision of the trade 
in arms with countries which need warlike material for defense. 



296 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Our Constitution gives to Congress sole power to regulate trade 
with foreign countries. Article XIX would bind us to take 
part in the guardianship of small nations, and would inevitably 
force us to send ships and troops to Syria, Armenia, Africa. 

There were Democratic Senators who thought the League 
Constitution was the greatest agency for world peace ever de- 
vised by man; was full of wise provisions; was a triumph for 
the President ; was a gi-eat step forward in the advance of civil- 
ized nations ; was a thing that would appeal to every civilized 
nation, and did not in the least impair the Monroe Doctrine. 
It was a world Monroe Doctrine with all the power of the 
League behind it; it was the only means by which the peace 
of the world could be maintained. 

Despite the request of the President, discussion of the Con- 
stitution of the League was opened in the Senate on February 
19. Our participation in such a league, its opponents insisted, 
would be a surrender of our sovereignty, a violation of our Con- 
stitution, an abandonment of the Monroe Doctrine, and a dis- 
regard of Washington's advice to keep clear of permanent alli- 
ances. The Constitution of the League was described as "the 
greatest triumph for English diplomacy in three centuries of 
English diplomatic life." It had been lifted almost bodily 
from the Constitution proposed by General Smuts in January, 
and when the members of the League "finally settle down to 
business England will have one vote, Canada one vote, ISTew 
Zealand one vote, Australia one vote, and South Africa one 
vote, while the American nation, created by our fathers and 
preserved through the centuries by the blood and sacrifice of 
our forebears, will have one vote. In both the Executive Coun- 
cil and the delegated body the same proportion obtains, and 
these two bodies direct, dominate, and mark out the policy of 
this entire program, whatever it is to be, under the League." 

Great Britain was to surrender nothing. We, on the other 
hand, "have surrendered the traditional foreign policy of this 
country, which has been established for 100 years, and we have 
gone behind these powers and placed at their disposal our 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 297 

finances, our man-power, and our full capacity to guarantee the 
integrity of their possessions all over the glohe. Is it an even 
balance between these great powers and the United States ?" 

Mr. Taft had long been a contributor to the editorial page of 
the Philadelphia Ledger. In a recent editorial he had declared 
the Monroe Doctrine safe under the Constitution of the League 
of NTations, and for this he was now called to account by Sen- 
ator Borah in an open letter : 

In a statement made to the press, and which was incorporated in 
the Congressional Record, you are quoted as saying that the pro- 
posed constitution of the league of nations saves the Monroe Doc- 
trine. On the other hand, Mr. Aranha, Brazilian diplomat, and 
late ambassador at The Hague, declares: "The Monroe Doctrine, 
as I see it, is destroyed by the new League. There is no longer any 
reason why the United States should attempt to protect the repub- 
lics of the new world." A dispatch to the New York Sun from 
Paris states that the belief in France is that the League destroys 
the Monroe Doctrine. Leading journals in England have declared 
to the same effect. I have conversed with a number of lawyers in 
this country, most of whom agree that the League and the Monroe 
Doctrine cannot exist together, and all with whom I have spoken 
agree that the matter is left in great doubt. Leading journals in 
this country take opposite views of the question. The proposition 
which I submit to you is, why had so great a matter been left in 
doubt when three lines added to the constitution excepting this 
important policy of ours from the jurisdiction of the League, will 
place the whole subject beyond contention or cavil? 

If the advocates of the League in the United States want to pre- 
serve the Monroe Doctrine will they offer any objection to writing 
in this proposed constitution an exception or reservation clause 
which will preserve it beyond question? If they are not willing to 
make the exception clear are we not entitled to presume that they 
are willing to see the Monroe Doctrine sacrificed? If Eng- 
land, Japan, France and Italy do not want to destroy the 
Monroe Doctrine they will readily consent to the reservation. If 
they do not consent it will be sufficient proof to all that they wish 
to destroy it and believe that this League constitution accomplishes 
that fact — a sufficient justification to warrant the American people 
in insisting upon unmistakable language to preserve it. 



298 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Mr. Taft was then reminded that the arbitration convention 
of The Hague conference of 1907 expressly reserved the Mon- 
roe Doctrine, and he was asked : 

"Will you and other friends and advocates of the League endorse 
an exception or reservation clause to be attached to this proposed 
constitution in the language of the reservation attached to The 
Hague convention of 1907 ?" 2 

Mr. Taft was traveling over the country, speaking in city 
after city in the interest of the League to Enforce Peace, and 
urging support to the President in his efforts to secure a League 
of Nations, was then on the Pacific Coast, and at Sacramento 
made reply: 

In reference to Senator Borah's question whether I would recom- 
mend an amendment to the covenant of Paris specifically reserv- 
ing from its construction any limitation of the power of the United 
States to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, I have to say I believe the 
whole spirit and essence of the covenant is not only to preserve 
the Monroe Doctrine in the Western Hemisphere, but also to extend 
it to the world, and to give it the sanction, not of the United States 
alone, but also of the whole League of Nations. This is particularly 
and specifically shown in Article 10 of the covenant. 

If it be said that Article 10 does not prevent a foreign nation 
from buying its way into territorial ownership and political power 
in the Western Hemisphere, without the consent of the United 
States and other American powers, then I doubt not that before 
the covenant is signed and embodied in the treaty of peace, the 
concert of nations at Paris will consent to have such a provision 
inserted. Of course, I would favor this; but, personally, I am con- 
fident that without this specific provision, the League would, under 
the covenant as it is, maintain the justice and wisdom of the whole 
Monroe Doctrine." 

* "Nothing contained in this convention shall be so construed as to re- 
quire the United States of America to depart from its traditional policy 
of not intruding upon, interfering with or entangling itself in the po- 
litical questions of policy or internal administration of any foreign state, 
nor shall anything contained in the said conventions be construed to imply 
a relinquishment by the United States of its traditional attitude towards 
purely American questions." 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 299 

Senator Reed opposed the League because the control of it 
would inevitably be in the hands of European and Asiatic 
nations; because the British Empire would probably control 
the League; because, if at any time Great Britain lost control, 
the German powers would be likely to succeed to her position of 
dominance ; because in the background was the menace of world 
Bolshevism, whose "fangs are plainly visible in the constitution 
of the League" ; and because whoever controls the League will 
control the world. He was opposed because the League abro- 
gated the Monroe Doctrine, forced us to surrender a part of our 
sovereignty, would involve us in conflicts with the world, com- 
pelled us to contribute to an international force which might 
be used against us, required us to submit to a tribunal, the 
majority of which would be foreigners, matters vital to the 
United States. Among such were the right of aliens to enter 
the United States, the slaughter of American citizens along the 
Mexican border, the killing of Americans on the high seas, seiz- 
ure and search of American vessels, imprisonment of American 
seamen, fortification of the Panama Canal, and the seizure of 
the Canal. These, and a thousand other vital questions, could 
be forced, by any antagonist, to a decision by the Executive 
Council composed of eight foreigners and one American. Even 
American labor, the best paid, best treated, highest class of labor 
in the world, was threatened, for the moment the League under- 
took to exercise jurisdiction over the labor of other countries, 
American labor would be dragged down from its place of van- 
tage to the low level of the pauper labor of Europe. 

'No Senator approving the League had replied when, on Mon- 
day, February 24, the President landed in Boston, made a short 
speech in response to the hearty welcome given him, and hurried 
on to Washington. 

Speaking of our duty to become a member of the League of 
!N"ations the President asked if at this juncture America were 
to fail the world what would become of it? No disrespect to 
any other great people was meant when he said, "America is 
the hope of the world," and if she does not justify that hope 



SOO THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

tlie result is unthinkable. All nations would again become hos- 
tile camps, and the men at the Peace Conference would go 
home knowing they had failed, for they were bidden to do some- 
thing else than sign a peace treaty. If our delegates signed 
the treaty of peace, though it were the best treaty that could 
possibly be had, and then went home, they would know that they 
had left on the historic table at Versailles nothing but a modern 
scrap of paper, with no nations united behind it, no great forces 
combined to make it good, no assurance given to the down- 
trodden people of the world that they should be safe. '"'Any 
man who thinks that America will take part in giving the world 
any such rebuff as that does not know America. I invite him 
to test the sentiments of the nation. We set this up to make 
men free, and we did not confine our conception and purpose 
to America, and now we will make men free." If America did 
not do this she would have "to keep her power for those narrow, 
selfish, provincial purposes which seem so dear to some minds 
that have no sweep beyond the nearest horizon." 

"Think," said the President, "of the picture, think of the 
utter blackness that would fall on the world. America has 
failed! America made a little essay at generosity and then 
withdrew. America said, 'We are your friends/ but it was 
only for to-day, not for to-morrow. America said, 'Here is our 
power to vindicate right,' and then the next day said, 'Let right 
take care of itself, and we will take care of ourselves.' America 
said, 'We set up a light to lead men along the path of liberty, 
but we have lowered it; it is intended only to light our own 
path.' We set up a great ideal of liberty, and then we said, 
'Liberty is a thing that you must win for yourself. Don't call 
on me.' And think of the world we would leave," the Presi- 
dent continued. "Do you realize how many new nations are to 
be set up in the presence of old and powerful nations, and left, 
if left by us, without a friend ? Are you going to set up Poland 
and leave her surrounded by enemies ? Do you know how many 
enemies would pounce on the Czechoslovaks and Jugoslavs if 
the world is not behind them ? You poured out your money to 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 301 

help succor the Armenians, now set your strength so that they 
shall never suffer again. The peace of the world/' the President 
said, "could not endure for a generation unless guaranteed by 
the united forces of the civilized world." 

When he spoke of the nations of the world he did not mean 
the governments of the world; he meant the peoples who con- 
stituted the nations of the world. They were "in the saddle," 
they were going to see to it that if their present governments 
did not do their wills, some other government must, and the 
present governments knew it. 

'No official statement of what was said at the Conference with 
the foreign relations committees of the two branches of Con- 
gress was made public. But some intimations of the Presi- 
dent's views found their way to the reporters. It was said, the 
President believed it would be very difficult to amend the Con- 
stitution of the League because fourteen nations had approved 
it; that nothing in the document called for an abandonment of 
the Monroe Doctrine; that whether the United States should, 
or should not, send troops to Europe if occasion arose would 
be for Congress to decide; that he believed the people would' 
feel that our country should at least take a prominent part in 
policing Armenia until conditions there were improved, and 
that if we did not ratify the League there would be the deepest 
sorrow throughout the world, and serious consequences might 
arise in the future. 

Debate on the Constitution was now resumed in the Senate 
and speeches were made in its defense. Pear that the League 
would be controlled by Asiatic despots, or Great Britain, or 
Germany, or the Bolsheviki, were derided as groundless. In 
the Executive Council were nine powers, five of whom were 
permanent members. No one of them was controlled by a 
monarch or a despot. France was a republic. In Great Britain 
the King had no more political power than the King painted 
on a playing card. And the same was true of Italy. Great 
Britain was, in fact, a great democracy. The people of Japan 
venerated the Mikado, but they forced him to change his min- 



S02 THE UNIIffiD STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

isters as often as they changed their political views. The age 
of despotic government, the age of autocrats, was gone. 

The alternative before us, it was said, is war and prepara- 
tions for war, or a League of JSTations. Which shall it be? 
What if we have no League of IsTations? Senators who ob- 
ject to this League would object to any League. They magnify 
the sacrifices the United States would make in joining the 
proposed League, as if our country was giving up everything, 
and receiving no benefits in return. They attack the League 
as a form of internationalism. The Senators are too late. It 
has come, and we must choose between an internationalism of 
justice, peace, and mutual support, or an internationalism of 
the Socialist, the Anarchist, the Bolshevist. 

The purpose of the League, said its defenders, is to main- 
tain international peace. To this end Article XII provides 
that members of the League will, in no case, resort to war 
without submitting the matter in dispute to arbitration, or to 
inquiry by the Executive Council of nine nations, nor even then 
until three months after the award, or recommendation, which 
must be made within six months. This affords a cooling off 
time of nine months, a great safeguard for peace. Another 
covenant provides that no member will ever resort to war 
against a member which accepts the award or recommenda- 
tion. It is unthinkable that any member will violate this 
covenant, and thus war between members of the League is 
made as nearly impossible as it can be. Eeduction of armament 
is required. If this is carried out in good faith it will not 
only reduce the dangers of war, but lessen the burdens of 
government in every country in the world. 

We have been told that if we join the League we abandon 
the Monroe Doctrine. That Doctrine, they held, was an- 
nounced when every country had to look out for itself; but 
the League includes the very purpose of the Monroe Doctrine, 
prevention of aggression by nations on each other. We are told 
that the League is one of those entangling alliances against 
which Washington warned us. Alliances in Washington's 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 303 

day were to enable nations throngli the balance of power to 
maintain tbeir rival interests. Alliances were for the very- 
purposes of waging war. The League of JSTations is a great 
covenant of the democracies of the world for the purpose of 
maintaining peace. 

We are told that if we enter the League, Japan could com- 
pel us. to arbitrate the immigration question, and if she won, 
compel us to admit her people. If Japan undertook to raise 
that question she could not win, because it is one we would not 
arbitrate. If she carried it to the Executive Council she would 
be opposed by Great Britain representing Canada, which is even 
more determined against Asiatic immigration than is the United 
States. 

We are told that if we enter the League the requirement to 
limit armament will impair the sovereignty of the United States 
and interfere with the power of Congress. One hundred years 
ago the United States and Great Britain agreed to limit naval 
armament on the Great Lakes. Yet the Senate approved that 
agreement and no voice has ever been raised against it, nor has 
the sovereignty of the United States suffered any impairment.^- 

Senator Knox opposed the League. He found fault with the 
looseness of expression which characterized the document 
throughout, and made precise criticism impossible, and cited 
articles to prove his contention. He found fault with the use 
of the word "league." It was a misnomer. A league meant 
a confederation, and a confederation implied a right "in 
the several parties to withdraw at will." But there was no 
right of secession "within the four corners" of this covenant. 
Once in the union, there we must remain, no matter how 
onerous the burdens, no matter how distasteful to our people, 
until we could persuade the Executive Council to let us de- 
part in peace, or until the League fell to pieces, or until we 
fought our way out against Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan 
and all the lesser States they were able to persuade to join 
the League. 

'Speech of Senator Hitchcock of Nebraska. 



S04 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

The real governing body of tlie League, the Senator held, was 
the Executive Council. Yet the document contained not a 
word regarding such essential matters as what shall be the num- 
ber of representatives from each state, how the number shall 
be fixed, how the council shall be organized and vote, what 
shall be the tenure, compensation, manner of appointment 
and removal of the members of this body which has power to 
determine whether or not the people of the United States shall 
go to war, and to what extent they shall participate therein. 
Nor were rules or regulations laid down for the guidance of 
this world governing body. The covenant preamble did, in- 
deed, provide that international peace and security were to be 
promoted "by the firm establishment of the understandings 
of international law, as the actual rule of conduct among gov- 
ernments." But this merely increased the difficulty, "for there 
is no universally recognized body of international law, and no 
provision is made in the instrument for even an attempt to 
secure one." In short, the Senator held that the Executive 
Council was "legislature, court, and, in large part, executive 
all in one;" that a body clothed with such powers was an ana- 
chronism; that it belonged "not to the enlightened age of the 
twentieth century, but to the days of the Medes and Persians" ; 
and that "a union more abhorrent to our traditions, to our free 
institutions, to the trend of all civilized government, could 
not be devised." 

By Article X the parties bound themselves to preserve the 
territorial integrity and political independence of all league 
members. It was to be noted, the Senator said, "that this guar- 
antee runs not alone to existing territory of nations, but to 
any territorial extent to which they may hereafter attain." 
By Article XII, the parties were bound not to resort to war 
against any high contracting party, over any dispute what- 
ever, until the matter had been submitted to arbitration, or 
to inquiry by the Council. This, said Mr. Knox, "does not 
prevent, but merely delays war by the high contracting parties." 

By Article XV the parties must submit to the Council any 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 305 

dispute not subject to arbitration, and not go to war with anj 
party which complies with any recommendation unanimously 
made by the Council. "Seemingly," said the Senator, "they 
may go to war over a recommendation which is not unanimously 
agreed to by all members of the Council, except the parties 
in dispute." By Article XVI the parties were pledged to sup- 
port one another in financial and economic measures taken un- 
der the provisions of the article. "What our contributions will 
be under this," said Mr. Knox, "how much our citizens must 
be ground down by taxes to take care of wild and extravagant 
expenditures which we did not and would not originate, initiate, 
and over which we would have no control, only an all-wise 
Providence can foresee." 

Ajc6 the mandatory states, he asked, to be chosen by the 
high contracting parties, by the members of the League, by 
the body of delegates, or by the Executive Council? But no 
matter who picked the mandatory, it was clear that some other 
power than ourselves would determine whether, and when our 
boys, and how many should be sent to the arid regions of 
Armenia, to the sleeping death region of Central Africa, to' 
the wilderness of Southwest Africa, or to the inhospitable South 
Pacific Isles. And when they got there somebody else than 
ourselves would determine how long they should remain, and 
by what laws they should govern the people. The Senator 
claimed that there were no provisions in the covenant which 
abolished war and made it hereafter impossible ; that it struck 
down most vital provisions in our Constitution, that it was 
destructive of our sovereignty, and threatened our national 
independence and our national life. 

In the closing hours of the session. Senator Lodge offered 
a resolution setting forth that it was the sense of the Senate 
that the constitution of the League of l!^ations in its present 
form should not be accepted, and calling for the utmost ex- 
pedition of the urgent business of negotiating peace. It bore 
the signatures of thirty-seven Republican Senators who would 
sit in the next Congress, was intended as a protest to be read 



306 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

into tlie minutes, and no final action was expected. Both, the 
resolution and the names were entered on the journal, and two 
more signatures were subsequently obtained.* 

Later in the day the Sixty-fifth Congress adjourned sine die 
leaving, stranded in the Senate, many bills of great public im- 
portance. Their passage had been prevented by a Republican 
filibuster against a general deficiency bill, carrying an ap- 
propriation of $750,000,000 for the railroads, in the hope of 
forcing a special session of the Sixty-sixth Congress, and pre- 
venting the return of the President to France. The President 
met the issue squarely, held to his plans, and, before leaving 
Washington for a second trip to Paris, made a statement. 

A group of men in the Senate have deliberately chosen to em- 
barrass the administration of the government, to imperil the finan- 
cial interest of the .railway system of the country, and to make 
arbitrary use of powers intended to be employed in the interests of 
the people. It is plainly my present duty to attend the Peace Con- 
ference at Paris. It is also my duty to be in close contact with 
the public business during a session of the Congress. I must make 

* "WHEEEAS, Under the constitution it is a function of the Senate 
to advise and consent to or dissent from the ratification of any treaty of 
the United States, and no such treaty can become operative without the 
consent of the Senate expressed by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of 
the Senators present; and 

"Whereas, Owing to the victory of the arms of the United States and 
of the nations with whom it is associated a Peace Conference was con- 
vened and is now in session in Paris for the purpose of settling the terms 
of peace; and 

"Whereas, A committee of the conference has proposed a constitution 
for a League of Nations and the proposal is now before the Peace Con- 
ference for its consideration; now, therefore, be it 

"Resolved by the Senate of the United States in the discharge of its 
constitutional duty of advice in regard to treaties, That it is the sense 
of the Senate that while it is their sincere desire that the nations of the 
world should unite to promote peace and general disarmament, the con- 
stitution of the League of Nations in the form now proposed to the Peace 
Conference should not be accepted by the United States; and be it 

"Resolved further, That it is the sense of the Senate that the negotia- 
tions on the part of the United States should immediately be directed to 
the utmost expedition of the urgent business of negotiating peace terms 
with Germany satisfactory to the United States and the nations with 
whom the United States is associated in the war against the German 
Government, and that the proposal for a League of Nations to insure the 
permanent peace of the world should be taken up for careful and serious 
consideration." 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 307 

my choice between these two duties, and I confidently hope that the 
people of the country will think I am making the right choice. It 
is not in the interest of public affairs that I should call the Con- 
gress in special session while it is impossible for me to be in Wash- 
ington, because of more pressing duty elsewhere, to cooperate with 
the two houses. I take it for granted that the men who have ob- 
structed, and prevented, the passage of necessary legislation have 
taken all this into consideration, and are willing to assume the 
responsibility of the impaired efficiency of the government, and the 
embarrassed finances of the country during the time of my enforced 
absence. 

!No sooner had Congress adjourned than the President set 
off for "New York, and on the evening of March 4 both he and 
Mr. Taft spoke in defense of the League from the same plat- 
form in that city. Just before the President rose to speak the 
band played, "We Won't Come Back Till It's Over Over There." 
"1 accept," said be, "the intimation of the air just played. 
I will not come back 'till it's over over there.' " One of the 
first things he should tell the people over there was, "that an 
overwhelming majority of the American people" was in favor 
of the League of ISTations. "I know that," he said, "to be true. 
I have had unmistakable intimations of it from all parts o£~ 
the country." He was happy to be associated with Mr. Taft 
in this cause. Such association meant that the League of !Na- 
tions was not a party issue. !No party had "a right to ap- 
propriate this issue, and no party will, in the long run, dare 
to oppose it." The League had not arisen in the Council of 
Statesmen. It had come from the need, and the aspiration, 
and the self-assertion, of great bodies of men who meant to 
be free. He could explain some of the criticism leveled 
against it, only by supposing "that the men who uttered the 
criticism have never felt the great pulse of the heart of the 
world." He was amazed, not alarmed, but amazed, that there 
should be in some quarters such ignorance of the state of the 
world. "These gentlemen do not know what the mind of men 
is just now. Everybody else does." He did not know where 
they had been closeted; by what influences they had been 



308 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

"blinded; but did know they had heen separated from the gen- 
eral currents of the thoughts of mankind, and wished "to utter 
this solemn warning, not in way of threat, for the forces of 
the world do not threaten, they operate. The great tides of 
this world do not give notice that they are going to rise and 
run; they rise in their majesty and overwhelm might, and 
those who stand in the way are overwhelmed." Unrest in 
Europe did not spring from merely economic causes. The 
peoples saw that their governments had never been able to de- 
fend them from aggressions, that the modern Cabinet had 
neither the foresight nor the prudence to stop war, and they said 
there must be some fundamental cause for this, and found it 
"to be that nations have stood singly, or in little groups jealous 
against each other," and that "if there is right in the world, 
if there is justice in the world, there is no reason why nations 
should be divided in the support of justice." I^ations were 
meant to make the men and women and children in them se- 
cure and happy and prosperous, and no nation had "a right 
to set up its special interests against the interests and benefits 
of mankind, least of all this great nation which we love." 

There was another thing the critics of this covenant had not 
observed. They had not "observed the temper of those splen- 
did boys in khaki" that they sent across the seas. When we 
entered the war we went in on the "basis of declarations" made 
by him because he "believed them to be an interpretation of 
the purpose and thought of the people of the United States." 

And those boys went over there with the feeling that they werei 
sacredly bound to the realization of those ideals; that they were 
not only going over there to beat Germany; that they were not going 
over there merely with resentment in their hearts against a par- 
ticular outlaw nation, but that they were crossing those three thou- 
sand miles of sea in order to show to Europe that the United 
States, when it became necessary, would go anywhere where the 
rights of mankind were threatened. 

They would not sit still in the trenches. They would not be 
restrained by the prudence of experienced continental commanders. 
They thought they had come over there to do a particular thing. 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 309 

and they were going to do it and do it at once. And just as soon 
as that rush of spirit as well as rush of hody came in contact with 
the lines of the enemy, they began to break, and they continued to 
break until the end. They continued to break, my fellow citizens, 
not merely because of the physical force of those lusty youngsters, 
but because of the irresistible spiritual force of the armies of the 
United States. It was that they felt. It was that that awed them. 
It was that that made them feel, if these youngsters ever got a 
foothold, they could never be dislodged, and therefore every foot of 
ground that they won was permanently won for the liberty of 
mankind. 

And do you suppose that having felt that crusading spirit of 
these youngsters, who went over there not to glorify America, but 
to serve their fellowmen, I am going to permit myself for one 
moment Jto slacken in my effort to be worthy of them and their 
cause? What I said at the opening I said with a deeper meaning 
that perhaps you have caught. I do mean not to come back until 
it's over over there, and it must not be over until the nations of the 
world are assured of the permanency of peace. 

!Not a man at the Conference, the President continued, bnt 
felt that he could not "in conscience return to his people from 
Paris" unless he had done his utmost to do something more, 
than put his name to a treaty of peace. Every one of them^ 
knew that such a treaty would be inoperative without the con- 
stant support of a great organization such as would be supplied 
by the League of N'ations, and when the treaty of peace came 
back gentlemen on this side of the water would find "the 
covenant not only in it, but so many threads of the treaty tied 
to the covenant" that they could not "dissect the covenant from 
the treaty without destroying the whole vital structure." The 
peace would "not be vital without the League of Nations, and 
no man is going to bring back a cadaver with him." 

Washington, in his Farewell Address to his countrymen, pub- 
lished in a Philadelphia newspaper in September, 1796, said: 
"The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations 
is, in extending our commercial relations to have with them 
as little political connection as possible. * * * Why, by in- 
terweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, en- 



SIO THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

tangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambi- 
tion, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice? It is our true 
policy to stear clear of permanent alliances with any proportion 
of the foreign world, so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty 
to do it ; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing 
infidelity to existing engagement." The Treaty of Alliance 
made with France in 1778 was then in force. The words 
"entangling alliances" were not used by Washington, but by 
Jefferson in his first inaugural speech, March 4, 1801. Stat- 
ing what he deemed "the essential principles of our govern- 
ment, and consequently those which ought to shape its ad- 
ministration," Jefferson named some sixteen. One of them 
was "peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; 
entangling alliances with none." Mr. Taft had said that 
Washington's warning was against "offensive and defensive 
alliances with one nation against another," and that "if Wash- 
ington lived to-day he would be one of the most earnest and 
pressing sponsors for the covenant." Referring to this re- 
mark the President said Mr. Taft "put the exactly right in- 
terpretation upon what Washington said. * * * and the 
thing he longed for was just what we are now about to supply; 
an arrangement which will disentangle all the alliances in 
the world." Nothing entangled, hampered, bound a nation 
save entrance "into a combination with some other nation 
against the other nations of the world, and this great disen- 
tanglement of all alliances is now to be accomplished by this 
covenant, because one of the covenants is that no nation shall 
enter into any relationship with another nation inconsistent 
with the covenants of the League of Nations." 

The President had declared, in the course of his speech, that 
when the treaty of peace came back gentlemen on this side 
of the water would find the covenant not only in the treaty, 
but so interwoven that the two could not be parted. While, 
however, the President was still on the sea, reports from Paris 
set forth that the preliminary treaty would be presented to 
the German commission about March 20th, and that the 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 811 

League of ^Nations would not be a part of it All sorts of 
meanings were put on those reports by opponents of the League. 
Some did not believe them. Others thought that reference 
was made to the preliminary, and not to the final treaty. Still 
others believed that the warning given by the thirty-nine Sena- 
tors had opened the eyes of the European delegates and that 
they would heed it. But, no sooner had the President reached 
Paris, than his private Secretary at Washington cabled, ask- 
ing "if there was any truth in these reports," and announced 
that he was "in receipt of a cable from the President stating 
that the Plenary Council has positively decided that the League 
of JSTations is to be part of the peace treaty ; that there is abso- 
lutely no truth in any report to the contrary." Several Sena- 
tors thereupon declared that if the President submitted the pro- 
posed league plan so linked with any treaty that it could not 
be separated, they would vote against both. They would not 
be intimidated by attempts at coercion. 

M. Pichon, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, in his weekly 
statement to representatives of foreign newspapers, explained 
that the treaty, to be submitted to the Germans in the course of 
ten days, was the preliminary treaty ; that it would put an end? 
to the state of war, but would not be the final treaty ; and that 
it could not contain the League of IsTations. As yet the plan 
was a mere scheme and unfinished. Views of neutral nations 
which had been invited to the Conferences, and amendments 
which might be offered could not be considered before the 
preliminary treaty was signed. A declaration of the under- 
lying principles of the League might be inserted, but nothing 
more. 

Il^evertheless, reports from Paris continued to contain assur- 
ances that the President had not changed his stand, that the 
Constitution of the League would at least be an appendix to 
the preliminary treaty in order that Germany might sign the 
treaty, and yet not become a member of the League, and that 
the documents would be ready before the end of March. Speak- 
ing for the British delegation, Lord Cecil said the covenant 



312 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

would be part of the treaty. The preliminary treaty would 
"settle the broad principles of the pacification of the world." 
Of such a treaty the Covenant should be a part. Indeed, he 
doubted if it would "be possible to proceed to the terms of the 
final treaty without the covenant in the preliminary one." 
Putting it in would not delay the treaty. Aside from those 
who wanted no league at all, and those who demanded a 
humanly impossible perfect league, there were few critics of 
the covenant as it stood. The Monroe Doctrine was no obsta- 
cle. If it meant no interference in American affairs, by 
Europe, without the consent of the United States, then the 
covenant strengthened that Doctrine because the League could 
act only through its own organs, the Council, and the body 
of delegates; because the United States would always be a 
member of each; and because, as no international action could 
be taken without unanimous consent, they could do nothing in 
America to which the United States was opposed. 

Such neutral nations as had accepted the invitation to attend 
the Conference now presented their amendments, said to be 
some thirty in number, and on Saturday, March 22, the Peace 
Conference met and began the work of revising and amending. 
Among the amendments reported to have been presented was 
one by Japan providing for just racial treatment, one by 
Switzerland concerning sovereignty, four drafted by Mr. Taft 
with the knowledge and encouragement of the President, and 
one concerning the Monroe Doctrine drawn by President Wil- 
son. That offered by Japan was not pressed for it met with 
strong opposition. Australia, said Mr. Hughes, Premier of 
that Commionwealth, to the representatives of the Associated 
Press, cannot accept this proposal. It strikes at the very 
root of the policy we have so long maintained, a policy vital 
to our existence and guarded as zealously as America has 
guarded her Monroe Doctrine. If the League may compel 
a State to amend its immigration, naturalization, and fran- 
chise laws, there remains to that State but the shadow of sover- 
eignty. The substance is gone. "No free people could submit 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 313 

to 'dictation in such matters. Internal problems must remain 
under the control of each nation. We are told, by advocates 
of this amendment, that nothing more is desired than the mere 
recognition of the principle; that no action is contemplated. 
Either the principle means something, or nothing. If nothing, 
then why insert it? If something, then this something will 
not be achieved by mere words, by stopping short of action. 
The people of Australia, he said, felt keenly on this matter; 
they felt as did those of California who, he believed, would 
be as much opposed to the amendment as were the people of 
Australia. 

The Swiss amendment forbade the League to interfere with 
the internal affairs of any of its members, and declared that 
the covenant should not be interpreted to contain anything 
contrary to the sovereignty of States, save in so far as any State 
might consent. Mr. Taft would have the Monroe Doctrine 
safeguarded; a definite statement of the right of any State 
in the League to control matters solely within its domestic 
jurisdiction; a definite statement that any action taken by 
the Executive Council of the League must be determined by 
unanimous vote; and a definite statement of the right of a" 
member of the League to withdraw; a definite term for the 
existence of the League, and for the fulfillment of the obliga- 
tion to restrict armament within the limits required. 

March 2Y the Covenant, as revised and amended, was sent to 
a Drafting Committee whose duty it was to change the word- 
ing wherever necessary, and report to the Commission as soon 
as posssible. Then it was announced that the amendments 
concerning the Monroe Doctrine, and that providing for racial 
equality, were not to be found in the Covenant, but among those 
embodied was one requiring any State which wished to with- 
draw from the League to give notice of its intent two years 
before leaving, and another opening all offices of the League 
to women as well as to men. 

What was sometimes called the "Super-Council," the "Big 
Four," composed of President Wilson and the Premiers of 



3U THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAK 

Great Britain, France and Italy, had long been busy drafting 
the treaty of peace. Again and again it had been asserted that 
their work had been delayed by the conferences on the covenant 
of the League of iNations. To these critics the President now 
made answer and said : 

In view of the very surprising impression which seems to exist 
in some quarters that it is the discussions of the commission on 
the League of Nations that are delaying the final formulation of 
peace, I am very glad to take the opportunity of reporting that the 
conclusions of this commission were the first to be laid before the 
plenary conference. 

They were reported on February 14, and the world has had a full 
month in which to discuss every feature of the draft covenant then 
submitted. 

During the last few days the commission has been engaged in an 
effort to take advantage of the criticisms which the publication of 
the covenant has fortunately drawn out. A committee of the com- 
mission has also had the advantage of a conference with representa- 
tives of the neutral states, who are evidencing a very deep interest, 
and a practically unanimous desire to align themselves with the 
League. 

The revised covenant is now practically finished. It is in the 
hands of a committee for the final process of drafting, and will 
almost immediately be presented, a second time, to the public. 

The conferences of the commission have invariably been held at 
times when they could not interfere with the consultation of those 
who have undertaken to formulate the general conclusions of the 
conference with regard to the many other complicated problems of 
peace. So that the members of the commission congratulate them- 
selves on the fact that no part of their conferences has ever inter- 
posed any form, of delay. 

Since the end of the session of Congress discussion of the 
draft covenant had become country wide. Senators, and mem- 
bers of the House, had appeared before Chambers of Commerce, 
before Clubs, social and political, before public meetings, and 
in joint debates. "Straw votes" had been taken in many cities, 
and the voters sometimes asked for the reasons which prompted 
them to vote as they did. Some who declined to vote declared 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE S15 

they did not feel competent to give an opinion. Those who 
approved the covenant gave various reasons. The President 
ought to be upheld in his endeavor to secure a lasting peace; 
his acts in the past justified confidence in his present plan; 
any step toward lessening the chances of future wars was in 
the right direction ; any League of l^ations without the United 
States was doomed to failure; the Monroe Doctrine was out- 
grown ; internationalism was a good thing, and the League was 
a long step toward it. Such as opposed the covenant thought 
that the United States should mind its own business; that 
what it needed was not internationalism, but strong national- 
ism; that the plan was of British origin; that the President 
should have consulted the Senate and appointed Senators on 
the Peace Commission; that any plan for policing the world 
would draw the United States into conflict with other world 
powers, and that the covenant had all the defects pointed out 
by men qualified to criticize. 

At Boston, there was a debate between Senator Lodge and 
President Lowell of Harvard University. The Senator began 
by saying, that he had been accused of being against any League 
of ^Nations. He was not. Far from it. He was anxious to. 
have the nations, the free nations of the world united in a 
League, but united to all that was possible to bring about dis- 
armament. Everybody desired the security of the peace of the 
world. He was not going to argue such a question as that. 
He should no more think of arguing that peace was better than 
war than he should think of insulting the intelligence of his 
hearers by arguing that virtue was better than vice. The real 
question was, will the covenant, as drafted, secure the peace of 
the world, is it just and fair to the United States of America ?' 

There were, Mr. Lodge said, four drafts presented to the 
Conference; one by Italy, one by France, one by the United 
States and one by Great Britain. The British draft was the 
one chosen. His hearers would find, if they compared the 
covenant with the plan put forth by General Smuts in January, 
that some paragraphs were taken from his plan with but slight 



316 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

changes. The other drafts had not been discussed although, he 
said, "We are living in an era of open covenants openly ar- 
rived at." To him, the draft seemed to have been loosely and 
obscurely drawn. This was of great importance because it was 
necessary that there should be as few differences of opinion 
as to the meaning of the articles of the covenant as human 
ingenuity could provide against. But those who were for the 
covenant as drafted, and those who were against it, differed 
about the meaning of nearly every article, and those who were 
for it differed among themselves. ''Mr. Taft said on the Yth 
of March, 'Undoubtedly the covenant needs revision. It is 
not symmetrically arranged, its meaning has to be dug out, 
and the language is ponderous and in diplomatic patois !' " To 
this Mr. Lodge heartily agreed. 

Lately, the phrase, "criticism must be constructive not de- 
structive," had become current. His first constructive criti- 
cism, therefore, was "that this League ought to be redrafted 
and put in language that everybody can understand." His 
second had to do with the Executive Council. That body was 
given authority to recommend, or advise, or propose measures, 
but the covenant often failed to say by what vote the Council 
should do so. Sometimes it must be by a two-thirds vote; in 
one case the vote must be unanimous, but in most cases it was 
not stated. He, therefore, would have a provision inserted that, 
"where not otherwise stated the decision of the Executive 
Council shall be by a majority vote." The Senator's third 
constructive criticism was "a larger reservation of the Monroe 
Doctrine" ; his fourth, the exclusion of "international questions 
of the character of immigration, and the tariff, from the juris- 
diction of the League," and his fifth, in the words of Mr. Taft, 
that "the covenant should also be made more definite as to 
when its obligations may be terminated." 

President Lowell began his reply by stating what he con- 
sidered "the minimum essentials of an effective League of Na- 
tions to prevent war." They were, compulsory arbitration, no 
appeal to arms after "an award which is universally believed 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 317 

» 

to be right and just" ; any nation going to war before arbitra- 
tion to be "regarded as a criminal against mankind, and treated 
instantly as an outlaw, and common enemy by the rest of the 
world"; this penalty not to be "decreed by a council of the 
League," but to apply "automatically" not only to disputes 
between members of the League, but also to nations not mem- 
bers of the League, "because war, like fire, tends to spread." 
He would have two Councils, one, "large and comprehensive 
for the discussion of general problems," and one, smaller, "to 
work out in detail the recommendations to be submitted to the 
members of the League for action, modifications, or rejection." 

The present covenant President Lowell found defective in 
drafting. In places it was so obscure that its meaning was 
often inaccurately expressed, and sometimes doubtful. It was 
easily misunderstood, and had been widely misunderstood. An- 
other article, therefore, should be added, setting forth that 
"the obligations assumed by the members of the League are 
only those which they agree to assume by this covenant, and 
not others which they do not agree to assume," and that "the 
powers possessed by the League are those, and only those,' 
conferred upon them by this covenant." 

Mr. Lowell then answered at length the many objections 
made to the covenant; that we should be ruled by a body in 
which we should have but one vote in nine ; that Great Britain 
would have six to our one; that our entrance into the League 
would be an abandonment of the policy laid down in Wash- 
ington's Farewell Address; that there was no provision for 
withdrawal from the League ; that Asiatic immigration and the 
tariff might become subjects of dispute with some other nation; 
that the Monroe Doctrine was not safeguarded; and finally, 
that some of its provisions were contrary to the Constitution 
of the United States. The United States, he believed, ought 
to ask "for a clause in the covenant that no foreign power shall 
hereafter acquire by conquest, purchase, or in any other way, 
any possession on the American continents, or the islands ad- 
jacent thereto." The covenant was imperfect and poorly drawn, 



318 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

but it was framed on the right lines. The substance of the 
plan, and the principles on which it was founded were cor- 
rect, and should be accepted and improved. 

Mr. Charles E. Hughes, Republican candidate for President 
in 1916, in a speech before the Union League Club at New 
York, proposed seven amendments to the Covenant. He would 
have an explicit provision for unanimity in decision; such 
limitation of the field of the League's inquiries as should leave 
no doubt that the internal concerns of States, as immigration, 
or tariff laws, are not included; no foreign power hereafter 
acquired by conquest, purchase, or in any other way, any posses- 
sions on the American continents, or the islands adjacent there- 
to ; settlement of purely American questions remitted primarily 
to the American nations, and no European nation intervene 
unless American nations invited them so to do. He would have 
the guaranty of Article X left out. He would have no mem- 
ber of the League made a mandatory without its consent, and 
no European, or Asiatic power, a mandatory over an Ameri- 
can people; and he would have any member of the League free 
to withdraw whenever it pleased, after due notice. 

Mr. Elihu Root, having been invited by the Chairman of 
the Republican ^National Committee to "present his views upon 
this vital subject," the proposed covenant for a League of Na- 
tions, offered six amendments. 

Determined to vigorously oppose the covenant as drafted, a 
number of men of prominence formed a League for the Preser- 
vation of American Independence. They insisted that the 
treaty of peace should at once be concluded. "In the interest 
of world peace" they were opposed to the covenant "in its 
present form," because it legalized "war in seven cases," and 
made it "compulsory in three"; because, by binding us to 
protect distant nations from aggression, it might, in case of 
trouble between two members of the League, force us to de- 
fault in our pledge, or again send our boys to fight overseas; 
because, by forcing us to abandon the Monroe Doctrine, it 
bound us to submit to the decision of an international council 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 319 

should a foreign nation acquire Mexico, or Cuba, or threaten 
our Pacific coast by securing a naval base at Matagorda Bay; 
because it provided for "such a delegation of power to an in- 
ternational council as is inconsistent with the sovereignty of 
the United States ;" and because this delegation of power might 
force us to fight without the right to decide on which side we 
should fight. The covenant gave the League power to decide 
questions concerning American labor ; gave the League such au- 
thority over commercial intercourse as might prevent us pro- 
tecting ourselves against undesirable immigrants, and the im- 
portation of foreign labor ; made no provision for such publicity 
as would destroy secret diplomacy; and contained no specific 
recognition of the right of a member to withdraw at pleasure. 
A League based on a constitution open to such objections was 
typical of the permanent and entangling alliances "against 
which Washington and Jefferson pronounced their solemn warn- 
ings." If the covenant were intended to mean what fair inter- 
pretation found in it, then its "ambiguity, vagueness, and 
uncertainty are such as to require its thorough reconstruction 
or prompt rejection." 

[Friends of the covenant formed The League of Free N'ationa 
Association. They held that a League of l^ations was "abso- 
lutely indispensable to the avoidance of future wars on a large 
scale," was indispensable to a quick return to normal conditions, 
and that President Wilson's fourteen points formed a proper 
basis for such a league, and the honor of the IsTation was 
pledged to uphold these points. The covenant was not perfect, 
but was a beginning of such promise that its rejection was not 
warranted under any circumstances whatever, and its rejec- 
tion by the Senate would turn the world towards anarchy. 
Everybody holding this belief was asked to give support. 
Writers and students were urged "to contribute articles, poems, 
stories supporting and explaining the League idea." "Posters 
and cartoons" were needed. But money was needed "first and 
last." 

Criticism had not been lost on the framers of the League. 



S20 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD V/AR 

When at last, on April 27, the revised Covenant was given to 
the World it appeared that many, and important, changes had 
been made, and most of those suggested by Mr. Taft and Mr. 
Hnghes adopted. The phraseology had been improved, and 
the meaning of many sections made clearer; there was an 
"annex" in which were named the thirty-three powers that 
were to be "the original members of the League of Nations," 
and the thirteen neutral powers to be invited to accede to the 
covenant ; there was provision for the withdrawal of any mem- 
ber after two years' notice; there was a requirement that, un- 
less otherwise expressly stated, all "decisions at any meeting of 
the Assembly, or of the Council, shall require the agreement 
of all the members of the League represented at the meeting." 
The words "Executive Council" and "body of delegates" were 
changed to "Council" and "Assembly." Geneva was chosen 
as the seat of the League, and all positions under the League 
were opened to women equally with men. Any League mem- 
ber violating the Covenant might be evicted by the unanimous 
vote of the other members of the League represented on the 
Council; no member of the League was to be made a manda- 
tory against its will; and all members were pledged to "en- 
courage and promote the establishment" of National Red Cross 
organizations. Amendment could be made to the covenant by 
the Council, and by a majority, instead of three^fourths, of 
the members of the Assembly. The Monroe Doctrine was safe- 
guarded by an Article which reads, "Nothing in this Covenant 
shall be deemed to affect the validity of international engage- 
ments, such as treaties of arbitration, or regional understand- 
ings like the Monroe Doctrine, for securing the maintenance 
of peace." In another article are the words, "if the dispute 
between the parties is claimed by one of them, and is found by 
the Council to arise out of a matter which, by international 
law is solely within the domestic jurisdiction of that party, 
the Council shall so report, and shall make no recommendation 
as to its settlement." These words were understood to re- 
move from the jurisdiction of the League such domestic ques- 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE S21 

tions as Japanese immigration. Plans for the reduction of 
armament must first be approved by the Governments con- 
cerned before going into effect, and were made subject to 
revision, "at least every ten years." 

April 28, at a plenary session of the Peace Conference, on 
motion of President Wilson, the Covenant, as revised, was 
unanimously adopted. That it had been greatly improved 
and many of the old objections satisfied was generally admitted. 
The amendments inserted in the text, in spite of the Presi- 
dent's determination that none should be made, have, it was 
said, improved the document so far as American interests are 
concerned. Revision has materially improved it both in dic- 
tion and arrangement. Many of the objections to the original 
have wholly, or in part, been removed. An honest endeavor 
has been made to meet every reasonable objection raised by 
the opponents of the old draft. The Monroe Doctrine is safe. 
A nation once in may get out without a fight. The United 
States is in no danger of becoming involved in a war without 
her consent. Ambiguities have been cleared up, and provi- 
sions that seemed to open the way to misunderstandings have 
been made clear. It is an attempt to get the nations of the 
World together in a gentlemen's agreement to do just what 
all honest nations wish to see done. Defects there are, but 
they are curable by the provisions of the Covenant itself. 

There were those, also, who failed to see any improvement. 
In the main, according to them, it was the same old Covenant. 
The matter of immigration to this country was not definitely 
left in our control. The voting trust of nine nations dominated, 
by five, would have final decision on all matters in interna- 
tional dispute. A vote of seven to two would bind the United 
States, and prevent it using force to sustain a position vital 
to its sovereignty. The right to withdraw, it was said, is valuer 
less because it is wiser to stay on the steam roller than to get 
off, and stand in front of it. As now drawn the Covenant runs 
counter to the Constitution of the United States. It does so 
in Article XVI, which empowers the Council to force members 



S22 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

to take up arms against a power declaring war, and thereby 
abrogates the right of Congress to make war. It does so in 
Article X, still unchanged, which assures the territorial and 
political integrity of members of the League, and drags the 
United States into the petty broils of European nations against 
the will of Congress. The Monroe Doctrine, some of the Sena- 
tors who signed the "round-robin" pointed out, was not "a 
regional understanding," and was not announced for the pur- 
pose of "securing the maintenance of peace." It was an an- 
nouncement intended to protect American control of the West- 
ern hemisphere even to the point of war. Senator Lodge, now 
majority leader in the Senate, telegraphed to Republican Sena- 
tors: "We suggest that Republican Senators reserve final ex- 
pressions of opinion respecting the amended League Covenant 
until the latest draft has been carefully studied, and until there 
has been an opportunity for conference." 

The League to Enforce Peace now announced, that from a 
poll of the Senators, based on statements made by them in 
newspaper interviews, letters to the League, and personal talks, 
it appeared that sixty-four were for the Covenant, twelve op- 
posed, and twenty doubtful, and that the covenant was sure 
of ratification. Said the emergency campaign committee of 
the League in an appeal urging ratification: 

The covenant for a League of Nations, in the amended form 
adopted by the Paris Peace Conference should satisfy all except 
those who oppose any League whatever. It is now a thoroughly 
American instrument, thoroughly American and thoroughly non- 
partisan. Recent amendments include the more important changes 
proposed by the leaders of the Republican party. 

The covenant asks the American people to surrender neither 
their honor, nor their independence, nor their dominant position 
in the new world. It involves no obligation that we should not be 
ready to assume to lessen the danger of future wars. 

Opponents must now show their colors. The old argument, "We 
are for a League, but not this League," will no longer serve, the 
issue now is, "The League or none." 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE 323 

On tlie eightli of May there appeared in tlie newspapers a 
proclamation of tlie President summoning the members of Con- 
gress to meet in extraordinary session on May 19, and also the 
official summary of the Treaty of Peace, in which the covenant 
was embodied as Article I. The President had made good his 
assurance that it would be found in the treaty so interwoven 
that the two could not be parted. The country now waited to 
see what the Senate would do. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE TREATY OF PEACE 

Long ere the delegates to the Peace Conference began to 
assemble at Paris, in December, 1918, the magnitude of the 
work they must perform, and the difficulties they must over- 
come, before even a preliminary treaty of peace could be 
framed, were quite apparent. More than one of the nations 
that fought Germany and her allies were already preparing 
to lodge claims more in accord with their national ambitions 
than with the fourteen points that were to be made the basis 
of peace. Belgium was looking forward to the restoration of 
Luxemburg, and to obtaining a part of Lemburg and the left 
bank of the Scheldt. Alsace-Lorraine was, of course, to go 
to France, but she would also demand a surrender of the Saar 
coal fields. Denmark, it was understood, would insist on a 
return of Northern and Central Schleswig. Poland must be 
free, but how to draw her frontiers, and how to give her, in 
the words of President Wilson, an assured "direct outlet to 
the great highways of the sea," would be most difficult to deter- 
mine. Such an outlet was down the valley of the Vistula to 
Danzig. But Danzig was a German town, and could a settle- 
ment which cut communication between East and West Prussia 
last long ? What was to become of Russia, of Turkey, of Ger- 
man Austria, of the late Emperor, of the German Colonies, 
and what restitution and reparation Germany must make, were 
but a few of the problems awaiting solution by the Peace 
Conference. 

Towards the close of January, 1919, the Conference settled 
down to the work before it, and immediately took up the case 
of Russia, adopted a proposal of President Wilson to summon 

324 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 325 

representatives of the many groups or governments in Russia 
to a conference at Prinkipo; decided to send a civil and mili- 
tary commission to Poland; appointed a number of commis- 
sions to consider important and pressing questions and report 
back to the Conference, and deliberated on the future of the 
German Colonies. 

Czechs and Poles, in the Principality of Teschen, having 
come to blows over the ownership of a mining district, the 
Conference decided to send delegates to quiet matters until it 
definitely fixed the frontiers in the contested zone. A hearing 
was given to representatives of Roumania on the one hand, and 
of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on the 
other, concerning their respective claims \r the Banat, and 
to M. Yenizelos on the claims of Greece to 'erritory in Asia 
Minor, and to the city of Constantinople. He spoke of the 
injury done all Europe by the Turkish possession of the Bos- 
porus; claimed Constantinople because the majority jf its 
population was Greek ; claimed northern Epirus because, since 
1913, the majority of its population was Greek; claimed 
Thrace and the shores of the ^gean Sea, given to Bulgaria, 
after the war of 1913; claimed the Viloyets of Balikeser and 
Aidin, the Islands of the Dadecanese, and the Island of Cyprus 
ceded to Italy in 1912, at the close of the Italo-Turkish war. 
In all these regions, he said, there dwelt a Greek population 
numbering 3,256,000 souls. In Asia Minor lived 1,700,000 
Greeks. 

February 5 the Council of Ten discussed the boundaries 
of the Czechoslovak Republic which demanded all Bohemia, 
Moravia, and Slovak-Silesia, the internationalization of the 
Danube, the Elbe, and the Vistula, and of the railway line 
between Pressburg, Trieste and Fiume. Emil Feisal, in be- 
half of the King of the Hedjaz, asked recognition of the Arab 
nation and of their rights to the great region inclosed by a 
line drawn from Alexandretta to the Persian frontier, Persia, 
the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, and the 
Mediterranean. Belgium presented her claims, and M. Klotz, 



S26 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Frencli Minister of finance, offered a detailed analysis of a 
work, published in 1916 by the German Great General Staff, 
proving the deliberately premeditated and systematic charac- 
ter of the destruction of French industry by the Germans. 
February 15, the Albanian delegation presented a memorandum 
asking acknowledgment of the rights of Albania, sacrificed 
by the Congress of Berlin, 1878, and by the Conference at 
London, 1913, and claiming all the territory given to Mon- 
tenegro, Serbia and Greece by that Conference. 

All these boundary disputes were difficult enough to handle, 
but none approached in bitterness the dispute between Italy and 
the Jugoslavs over Istria, Fiume, Dalmatia. Italy longed to 
make a closed sea of the Adriatic. She claimed that in the days 
of the Venetian Republic the eastern shore of the Adriatic was 
inhabited and governed by her people ; that Gorizia and Istria, 
the Dalmatian coast and its Islands, were Italian possessions, 
and Trieste, Pola and Fiume were Italian cities; that in the 
early years of the nineteenth century Austria conquered north- 
ern Italy, and Trieste, Pola, Fiume and the eastern shore of 
the Adriatic passed to the dominion of the Austro-Hungarian 
Empire, and that the time had now come when Italy should 
have them back. Sharing in this view Great Britain, France 
and Russia, in 1915, made with her, at London, a secret treaty 
by which she was promised, if she joined the Allies and entered 
the war, the eastern shore of the Adriatic as her share of the 
spoils. When that treaty was signed nobody supposed that 
Austria, and Russia and Germany, would be broken up, and 
new nations formed on the then unheard-of principle of the 
self-determination of democratic peoples. But the unforeseen 
had happened. Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, 
Herzegovina and Dalmatia had united and formed Jugoslavia, 
and Jugoslavia now claimed that the eastern shore of the 
Adriatic belonged to her, and have it she would, peaceably if 
the Conference would so rule, forcibly if she must. Gorizia, 
and western Istria and Pola, she was willing should go to Italy, 
because the people of these cities were chiefly Italian. But 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 327 

the Dalmatian coast and all the Islands, and Fiume and Avlona, 
must be under the government of Jugoslavia because, in race 
and affiliations, the people are Jugoslav. 

In hope of reaching an amicable settlement, the Prime 
Minister of Jugoslavia appealed to President Wilson, invited 
him to act as arbitrator, and believing the proposal was favor- 
ably received, asked the Government at Belgrade for authority 
to make an official request. He was duly empowered, and ad- 
dressed to President Wilson a formal note, and sent a copy 
of it to M. Clemenceau as President of the Peace Conference. 
"Inspired by the fullest confidence in the lofty spirit of justice 
which you have displayed in regard to all questions appertain- 
ing to the peace settlement, and desirous of contributing to the 
friendly solution of territorial differences pending between the 
Kingdom of Serbs, Creates and Slovenes and the Kingdom of 
Italy, the Delegation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croates and 
Slovenes desires to bring to your knowledge its readiness to 
submit those differences to your arbitration. It has received 
full authority to this effect from its Government." 

The Italian delegates would not arbitrate. As all the ter-- 
ritorial claims of nations were being submitted to the Peace 
Conference, this case, they held, should not be made an ex- 
ception. Thereupon the Jugoslav Delegation, a few days later, 
laid before the Conference the claims of their country and 
demanded that the Isonzo Piver be made the Italian boundary 
and that Istria, with Trieste and Piume and the Dalmatian 
coast, be annexed to Jugoslavia. The Armenians asked for 
liberation from the Turkish yoke; for the formation of a new 
Armenia composed of the six Armenian provinces of Turkey, 
• the territory of the Armenian Pepublic in the Caucasus and 
the port of Alexandretta ; and for protection, for twenty years, 
by a great Power under a mandate from the League of ]^ations. 

Territorial and boundary disputes we^re not the only matters 
to which the Conference had given attention. A Supreme 
Economic Council was appointed to consider the distribution 
of shipping, lifting the blockade, distribution of raw materials, 



S28 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

and such financial matters as required a speedy settlement. An 
Economic Drafting Commission, and a Financial Drafting 
Commission, were appointed to deal with the demand of several 
nations for the pooling of their credit, debts, and resources, 
and to gather information as to the financial condition of the 
enemy countries for use by the Commission on Reparation. 

On the question of reparation, it now appeared, Great 
Britain, France, and the United States held different views. 
The British insisted that Germany should pay the Allies the 
cost of raising, equipping, transporting, and maintaining their 
armies, and make reparation for wanton damages caused by 
airplane and Zeppelin raids, and destruction of merchant ship- 
ping, in short, the whole cost of the war. To this the French 
agreed, but demanded that Germany should first pay for all the 
damage she had done in violation of international law, and later 
make good the costs of war, if she were able to do so. The 
Americans held that reparation should be limited to damage 
done wantonly, and in violation of the laws of war and of 
nations, a proposition which would leave Great Britain without 
recompense, save for injury done by airplanes, Zeppelins and 
submarines, and would restrict that done to her colonies, and 
to the United States to losses suffered by the sinking of mer- 
chant vessels. 

The armistice now expired, February lY, and was continued 
without limit, and terminable at the pleasure of the Allies on 
seventy-two hours' notice. To some of the new terms the Ger- 
mans objected, and protested. For reasons unknown the terms 
delivered to the Germans at Treves on Friday, February 14, 
did not reach Weimar until late on the evening of Saturday, 
when a meeting of the Cabinet was immediately held, great 
indignation expressed at the terms, and a decision reached not 
to sign. Responsibility for this decision, however, the Cabinet 
was so unwilling to assume alone, that early on Sunday the 
party leaders were summoned, and the question of signing laid 
l)efore them. They advised acceptance; tiie Cabinet yielded; 
and late on Sunday afternoon a telegram was sent to Herr Erz- 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 329 

berger bidding him sign, which, he did shortly after six o'clock 
on February 16. Before doing so, acting under instructions, 
he handed to Marshal Foch a written statement that the Ger- 
man Government protested, because the agreement entirely ig- 
nored the new German Government; imposed, in the form of 
curt orders, the requirement to evacuate, in favor of the Poles, 
a number of places; and made the armistice terminable on 
three days' notice. On Monday, after Ilerr Erzberger read 
the terms to the ISTational Assembly, that body at once ad- 
journed, as a mark of their sorrow because of the humiliating 
terms forced on Germany. 

As the month of March approached, announcement was made 
that the Council intended to embody the terms of the final 
armistice in the preliminary treaty of peace, and that the 
Supreme War Council had settled the naval terms and provided 
for complete disarmament of the enemy. All German sub- 
marines, docks for submarines, and the Kiel tubular dock were 
to be surrendered or destroyed; German war vessels interned 
in Allied ports were to be seized, and broken up or destroyed ; 
warships under construction in Germany must be destroyed; 
eight battleships, eight light cruisers, forty-two modern de- 
stroyers and fifty modern torpedo boats, with guns and torpe- 
does, must be handed over by Germany in condition to go to 
sea under their own steam; Heligoland fortifications must be 
destroyed by the Germans at their own expense; all fortifica- 
tions defending access to the Baltic must be razed, and the 
Kiel Canal open at all times to the war vessels and merchant 
ships of every nation. German Cable systems, European, 
Transatlantic and Asiatic, would not be returned to former 
owners, and the wireless stations at Nauen, Hanover and Berlin 
were to be used for none but commercial purposes. 

France, it was reported, reserved acceptance of the provi- 
sions requiring destruction of warships surrendered by Ger- 
many and interned in Allied harbors. She needed some, for 
her fleet had suffered losses which, because of army require- 
ments, her yards had not been able to make good. There were, 



S30 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

it was said, tliree ways of disposing of the surrendered German 
ships; sink them in the ocean, as Great Britain wished; con- 
vert them into transports, which was impracticable because of 
cost; distribute them between France, Italy and Japan, for 
neither Great Britain nor America wanted them. This last 
plan was objectionable because, in the face of the League of 
^Nation's requirement for disarmament, it would be adding 
to the navies of three powers. 

Military terms to be imposed, it was reported, would force 
Germany to reduce her army to one hundred thousand men, 
recruit this force by volunteer enlistment, and make the term 
of enlistment twelve years lest, by training a new body of a 
hundred thousand men each year, she should, in time, train 
a great army. The Imperial General Staff must be abolished, 
artillery and military equipment, over and above the needs 
of the new army, must be surrendered, and the forts along 
the Rhine destroyed. The terms of aerial disarmament for- 
bade Germany to use airplanes, or dirigibles, for military pur- 
poses, and required her to hand over her airplanes to the Allies, 
and build no more until after peace was concluded. 

The Supreme Council, it was further reported, indeed, it 
was so stated by Premier Delacroix in the Belgian Chamber 
of Deputies, had decided that the old treaty of April 19, 1839, 
must be revised, and would insert in the peace treaty a re- 
quirement that Germany relinquish her leasehold on Tsingtau 
and all concessions on the Shantung peninsula. The Polish 
Commission on the Eastern Boundary of Germany now re- 
ported, and proposed to give Poland direct access to the Baltic 
by a corridor leading to Danzig, thus cutting off East Prussia 
from Germany; to allow Germany communication across this 
corridor; and to demilitarize East Prussia. Prom the sub- 
commission of the Commission on Eesponsibility for the War 
came a report listing thirty-one classes of crimes for which 
Germany should be held responsible. Civilians had been 
massacred, tortured, starved, deported, interned under brutal 
conditions, forced to labor in connection with military opera- 



THE TREATY OF PEACE SSI 

tions. Girls and women had been abducted, women violated, 
and hostages put to death. Towns and villages had been 
pillaged, property confiscated, the currency debased, penalties 
imposed and collected. Property, religious, charitable and edu- 
cational, and historic buildings and monuments had been wan- 
tonly destroyed. Exorbitant and illegal contributions had been 
exacted, undefended places and hospitals had been bombarded, 
relief ships, hospital ships, fishing boats had been destroyed, 
and merchant ships sunk without warning. Asphyxiating and 
poisonous gases, and explosive and expanding bullets, had been 
used. ]^o quarter had been given; prisoners had been ill- 
treated; flags of truce misused; wells poisoned, and the rules 
relating to the Red Cross utterly disregarded. Even this list, 
the sub-commission stated, did not ecshaust the record of enemy 
crimes. 

From an oflScial of the French Foreign Office came a state- 
ment of the disposition France wished to have made of the 
country west of the Khine. ITever again should the people 
and their territory be made a military menace and vantage 
ground for invasion of France, as in the past. France had 
not the least desire to make these people a part of her own; 
they should have an independent status. But the Rhine should 
be a military and political boundary. West of that river there 
should never again be any German troops, German fortifica- 
tions, German munition works. Every railroad, every bridge 
across the Rhine must be in French hands, or those of the 
Allies, until the territory was politically independent. The 
whole German population must be forever rid of all military 
obligations to Germany, never subject to service in German 
armies, or allowed to volunteer, and no taxes should ever be 
levied on them for military purposes. 

Making the Rhine a political boundary meant, that during 
the period of occupation, which must continue until Germany 
had paid her reparation bill in full, local administration of the 
towns and villages should remain in the hands of the native 
population, with no political connection with any Central Ger- 



§32 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

man Government Reparation made, and the period of occupa- 
tion ended, this Ehine country should at once become an in- 
dependent State, for the good of itself, and for the protection 
of France and the rest of the world against the Germany of 
the future. 

Public opinion in Rome, it was now reported from Paris, 
was irritated by reports that the Italian territorial claims 
would not be decided together with those of France, before 
the treaty of peace, but afterwards with those of the new na- 
tions sprung from the ruins of Austria. If this report be true, 
said an Italian newspaper, we do not hesitate to assert that 
the Italian delegates will be in duty bound to oppose the propo- 
sition "even at the cost of packing their trunks and leaving 
Paris." But we refuse to believe that President Wilson, or 
any one else, can have thought of such a thing. It would be 
a grave offense to Italy. At Rome all eyes were turned towards 
Paris. Demonstrations were made in favor of the Irredenta, 
and Fiume in particular, and the question. What attitude will 
America take ? was asked on every hand. 

So high did feeling run that on March 21 the Italian dele- 
gation to the Peace Conference announced that they had unani- 
mously agreed to withdraw from the Conference unless Fiume 
were assigned to Italy, before the conclusion of peace. Such, 
it was said, was the state of the public mind in Italy, that 
failure of the delegation to secure title to Fiume and the 
Dalmatian coastal islands would surely be attended by grave 
political results. ^Neither the Parliament, nor the people, would 
think of ratifying an agreement which abandoned what they 
considered necessary "to the completion of the mother country." 
President Wilson, report said, had the matter before him and 
would, it was hoped, find a way to overcome this obstacle in 
the path of peace. 

All the Allied peoples by this time were crying out for less 
secrecy and more speed. Most of the issues, it was said, that 
have arisen could be settled easily in a few days by two or three 
determined men. There must be a truce to the constant refer- 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 833 

ence of these claims to committees, sub-committees and sub- 
sub-committees. It was foolish, to put off the day when the 
Council must make up its mind, and that day must not be 
far away, for the audience "will soon get tired of waiting for 
the curtain to be drawn." The whole world is impatient for 
peace. Trade and industry demand it as a first step towards 
a return to normal conditions. The ruined countries demand 
it, that they may take up the work of reconstruction. Civiliza- 
tion demands it, that the forces of Bolshevism may not break 
through in the East. Even the Council of Ten seemed at 
last to be convinced of the need of haste, and March 24, de- 
cided, that a Super-Council of Four, composed of President 
Wilson and the three Allied Prime Ministers, should proceed 
at once to gather up the decisions already made, settle the 
issues on which no decision had been reached, and draw up 
the Treaty of Peace. 

At the end of a week the Council of Four gave no more 
satisfaction than the Council of Ten. They, too, it was charged, 
were wasting time. At the moment when clear-sighted reso- 
lution was most needed, they were showing neither vision nor 
courage. Victory was not yet assured, and might even be lost 
unless the politicians, who so misrepresented their people, were 
driven to do their duty or replaced by others who would do it. 
Their secrecy was even more hateful than their sloth. 

President Wilson now issued a statement denying that con- 
ferences on the League of l^ations had anything whatever to do 
with delay in framing the treaty. Rumor then found other 
causes. The "Big Four" were said to be "deadlocked" on the 
question of reparation, and the demands of M. Clemenceau for 
the cession, outright to France, of the whole Saar valley; the 
"Big Four" were said to have indulged in some very plain 
talk ; President Wilson was said to have threatened to go home 
unless greater progress was made in settling the peace of the 
world; to have told his associates that the world was awaiting 
the finishing of their task, and had a right to expect a speedy 
conclusion; to have said that the slowness of the negotiation 



334, THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

was not the fault of the representatives of any nation ; that he 
willingly accepted his share for the delay in framing the 
Treaty; that the time for talk was over, and that the time 
for results had come. 

After several days had passed and no results were announced, 
the editor of the Paris Matin had an interview with Lloyd 
George, and told him that the public was troubled not so much 
by the delay, as by the secrecy which surrounded the meetings 
of the Council of Four, and the fear that serious differences of 
opinion existed. To this Lloyd George replied : 

I affirm absolutely that there is no divergence among the nego- 
tiators. They are often confronted with technical difficulties which 
can only be settled after close study. Take the question of repara- 
tion. In substance the Allies have one common principle, which 
I once set forth thus: "Germany must pay up to the last farthing 
of her power." 

But is it sufficient to draw up a biU and hand it to the enemy? 
Must we not require guarantees, and must we not study the terms, 
methods, and forms of delayed payments? Must we not be able to 
say to our adversary when be pleads inadequacy of resources: "Yes, 
you can go as far as that and you must do it." In a word, shall we 
simply present a bill, or collect the money, all the money possible? 
Well, that is where the work comes in, slow and difficult work 
complicated by the fact that technical experts of the highest capa- 
bilities and greatest experience are not in agreement among them- 
selves, either as to the method of liquidation, or as to the assets to 
be realized. 

No, there is no divergence among the negotiators, but, alas, there 
are inevitable ones among the experts, often among those from the 
same country. 

The editor remarked that the public could not understand 
why, before everything, Germany has not been handed a full 
bill, no matter what the amount, and forced to admit full 
liability. 

"And who says we shall not do so?" cried Premier Lloyd 
George. "Who says we have not decided that?" 

"N"o one," the interviewer interrupted, "has said that you 
have not decided it." 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 335 

The British Premier resumed: 

Cannot the people wait until we have finished our work instead 
of always wanting to judge our intentions ? This Conference had 
to meet, and discuss things, under conditions unprecedented in 
histo,ry. All eyes are turned toward it, and, what is more grave, 
all ears are glued at its keyhole. Enemy ears tremble with joy 
when they detect some hesitation. Friendly ears half hear confused 
rumors which are peddled far and quickly. The day does not pass 
but what some false news, here and there, takes its flight. Never- 
theless, no day passes but that we in silent deliberation feel ap- 
proaching nearer the great aim, and experience for each other more 
esteem, confidence, and affection. Let public opinion wait a few 
days. It will then be able to pronounce on facts, not rumors. 

Results, and assurances of results to come, were now an- 
nounced. Agreement had been reached on the principle of in- 
demnities to be paid by Germany. The Danzig question had 
been adjusted, progress had been made by all commissions, 
save that on Reparations, and complete agreement would be 
reached by Easter Sunday, which, in 1919, was April twen- 
tieth. But the statement of Lloyd George that "there is no 
divergence among the negotiators" was received with doubt. A 
strong impression existed that European politics had produced 
sharp divergence of opinion, at least in the case of Fiume, and 
that Italy was likely to quit the Conference unless her demand 
was granted. Italy's quarrel, it was pointed out, had never 
really been with Germany, but with Austria. Were she to 
withdraw, she could easily make a separate peace with Ger- 
many, and as her army had not been demobilized, as her two 
and a half millions of men were still under arms, it would 
be easy for her to seize Eiume and Dalmatia in the old fash- 
ioned European way. That Fiume was not mentioned in the 
treaty of London made no difference. Have it she must, and 
would. If we do not get it from the Conference, said an 
Italian, we must assume that our delegation has reached the 
limit of its authority to act on its own responsibility, and must 
appeal to the Italian people for new instructions. Italy has an 



3S6 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Adriatic Doctrine as dear to her as the Monroe Doctrine is to 
America. Orlando can no more return to Rome with a peace 
treaty depriving us of Fiume, than President Wilson can re- 
turn to the United States with a League of ISTations which de- 
stroys the Monroe Doctrine, or in any way menaces the political 
welfare of his country. 

Color was now given to the belief that "divergence" did ex- 
ist "among the negotiators," by a sudden call from President 
Wilson, on April 6, for the return of the steamship George 
Washington to Europe. Why he did so no one knew ; but that 
made no difference, for rumors supplied the reasons. It was 
well known, according to one, that in American quarters there 
was great disappointment at the delay in settling the claims of 
the Allies among themselves, and it might be that the Presi- 
dent felt it a waste of time to sit at the Conference table listen- 
ing to fruitless discussions of questions in which America had 
no concern. It was a hint, according to another, that unless 
differences were speedily adjusted, Mr. Wilson would sail for 
America, order the American army out of Europe, and leave 
Great Britain, France and Italy to end their squabbles in their 
own way. It was a sign, according to others, that the peace 
treaty would be finished before the George Washington could 
reach France, and that the President would be free to go home. 

Spurred on, it may be, by this action of the President, the 
Council of Four now agreed on the terms of reparation for war 
damages, on the responsibility of the German Emperor for the 
war, and on the means of bringing him to trial. Losses and 
damages to civilians were to be determined by an inter-allied 
commission, and Germany was to be notified of the amount 
due not later than May 1, 1921, was to pay in full within thirty 
years, and was to begin with a payment, within two years, of 
twenty billion marks, or five billion dollars. To determine the 
responsibility of William Hohenzollem for his offenses against 
international law and the sanctity of treaties, his surrender was 
to be asked of Holland, and a special tribunal set up to fij: the 
punishment to be imposed. 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 337 

Despite these signs of progress, distrust and displeasure was 
made manifest in many ways. Three hundred and seventy-four 
members of the House of Commons signed a telegram to Lloyd 
George calling on him to make good his preelection promises 
to exact the utmost indemnity from Germany. The national 
executive of the British Labor Party demanded that the Paris 
Conference put an end to discussion, and make peace in accord- 
ance with President "Wilson's fourteen points. Every member 
of the French Senate signed a resolution expressing the hope 
that full restitution would be exacted from the enemy, and that 
full reparation for damages to persons and property, and the 
full cost of the war would "be imposed on those responsible for 
the greatest crime in history." All restraints were at once 
broken down, and the press of Paris, led by Le Matin, joined 
in savage denunciation of Lloyd George, President Wilson, and 
the Americans. 

At last the treaty was nearing completion. One by one the 
great questions, even that of the Rhine boundary, were settled 
and, on April 14, the President in behalf of the Council of 
Four put forth a statement that the German plenipotentiaries 
would be "invited to meet the representatives of the associated 
belligerent nations" at Versailles on the 25th of April. 

The summons, or invitation, as the President called it, hav- 
ing been received, the German Government showed its contempt 
by announcing that three men of no importance would be sent 
to Versailles as messengers, or couriers, to receive the treaty and 
bring it to Weimar. This, the Council of Four would not per- 
mit. Germany was promptly informed that no delegates would 
be received by the associated Governments unless vested with 
the same plenary powers to negotiate as the representatives of 
the Allied and Associated Governments possessed; the insult- 
ing decision of the German Cabinet was at once reversed and 
assurance given that six delegates, headed by Count von Brock- 
dorff-Rantzau, the Foreign Minister, would go to Versailles. 

Meantime, the Council of Four had been earnestly striving 
to come to terms with the delegates from Italy. All efforts 



338 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

were vain. NTothing short of Fiujae would be accepted, and 
when tlie Council met on April 22 Premier Orlando did not 
attend. To tlie Italian newspaper men lie was reported to liave 
said: 

We have withdrawn. From this morning none of our delegation 
will take any part in any Conference work. We are simply standing 
firm in our position, and all further initiative must come from the 
other side. If we learn that an adverse decision is reached by them, 
we shall go home at once. In any case, unless we receive full satis- 
faction, the day of the arrival of the German delegates will be the 
limit of our stay. If we go, it will not mean a rupture of diplomatic 
relations, but an expression of lack of solidarity between Italy and 
the other members of the Conference. 

On the following day, April 23, Premier Orlando again 
failed to attend the Council; President Wilson issued a state- 
ment on the Adriatic question, and the Italian delegation at 
once announced that it would leave Paris on the 24:th. In sub- 
stance, the President said that when Italy entered the war she 
did so "upon the basis of a definite private understanding with 
Great Britain and Prance now known as the Pact of London" ; 
that Austria-Hungary, at whose expense the Pact of London 
was to be kept in the event of victory, had gone to pieces and 
no longer existed; that from its several parts were to be set 
up independent states to be associated, in the League of N'a- 
tions, with Italy and all the powers that stood with Italy in 
the great war; that these new nations would be among the 
small states whose interests must be safeguarded as scrupulously 
as the interests of the most powerful states; that in the armi- 
stice with Germany it was promised that peace should be founded 
on certain clearly defined principles; that the same principles 
must be applied to the settlement of peace in what was once 
the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Balkan States, as with 
Germany; that if these principles were not to be abandoned, 
"Piume must serve as the outlet of the commerce, not of Italy, 
but of the land to the north and northeast of that port, of 
Hungary, Bohemia, Roumania and the States of the Jugoslav 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 339 

group." To assign Fiume to Italy, tlie President said, would 
be to create a feeling that the port on which all these countries 
chiefly depend for access to the Mediterranean had been de- 
liberately put into the hanSs of a power of which it did not 
form an integral part, and which was not identified with the 
commercial and industrial life of the regions which the port 
must serve. "It is for that reason, no doubt, that Fiume was 
not included in the Pact of London, but there definitely as- 
signed to the Croatians." 

The reason why the line drawn in the Pact of London swept 
about among the islands of the eastern coast of the Adriatic, 
and a portion of the Dalmatian coast, undoubtedly was, the 
President believed, that Italy must have a foothold amidst the 
channels of the eastern Adriatic that she might make her coasts 
safe against naval aggression by Austria-Hungary. But 
Austria-Hungary no longer existed ; the fortifications which she 
erected were to be destroyed, and the limitation of armaments, 
required by the League of JSTations covenant, put aggression out 
of the question. Italy was safe without Piume. 

Premier Orlando at once made a long reply. He admitted 
that Piume was assigned by the Pact of London to the Croa- 
tians, but defended, as best he could, Italy's claim to the city 
on the basis of its Italian population and the right of self- 
determination. What enraged him, and brought forth his re- 
ply, was what he considered a violation of diplomatic procedure, 
and an affront to the Italian Government by the President, who 
had passed over the heads of the Italian delegation and ap- 
pealed to the Italian people and the whole world. 

While [said Orlando] the Italian del^ation was discussing cotin- 
ter propositions which had been received from the British Prime 
Minister, and which had far their aim the conciliation of contra- 
dictory tendencies which were manifested concerning Italian terri- 
torial aspirations, the Paris newspapers published a message from 
the President of the United States, in which he expressed his own 
thought on one of the gravest problems which has been submitted 
to the judgment of the Conference. 



340 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

The practice of addressing nations directly constitutes, surely, 
an innovation in international relations. I do not wish to complain, 
but I wish to record it as a precedent, so that at my own time I may 
follow it, inasmuch as this new custom doubtless constitutes the 
granting to nations of larger participation in international ques- 
tions, and, personally, I have always been of the opinion that such 
participation was the harbinger of a new order of things. 

Nevertheless, if these appeals are to be considered as addressed to 
nations outside of the Governments which represent them (I might 
say even against the Governments), I should feel deep regret in re- 
calling that this process, heretofore applied to enemy Governments, 
is to-day applied for the first time to a Government which has been, 
and intends to remain, a loyal ally of the Great American Republic, 
namely, to the Italian Government. 

Above all, I should have the right to complain if the declarations 
of the Presidential message have the purpose to oppose the Italian 
people to the Italian Government, because it would misconstrue and 
deny the high degree of civilization which the Italian people has 
attained, and its democratic and liberal regime, and I should be 
forced to protest strongly against suppositions unjustly offensive to 
my country. 

That a grave crisis had arisen in the Peace Conference, and 
that nothing should he left undone to find a remedy, was gen- 
erally admitted in Paris ; but on the act of the President public 
opinion was divided. By some journals it was deplored as 
likely to do more harm than good ; as an attempt to transfer to 
the market place, discussions better carried on in privacy ; as a 
display of stubbornness, and of a haughty, uncompromising 
spirit. Socialist newspapers approved his course. Tired of 
confidential wire pulling and secret diplomacy the President 
had rent the veil and appealed to public opinion. He had 
applied the surgeon's knife to a painful wound. The patient 
had cried out, but the wound would heal. 

In the London Press the statement was described as a 
"thunderbolt," a "bombshell," "an appeal to Caesar." The 
President had taken an impossible attitude; his appeal was an 
insult to Italy; he ought to retire gracefully from a discussion 
which concerned neither him nor the American continent. He 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 341 

had created a most serious situation, the development of which 
would be watched with anxious interest. Italy, some journals 
held, had gone beyond the Pact of London in claiming Fiume, 
which, in the treaty, had been assigned to Croatia. If an ap- 
peal were made to the treaty, was not the Conference as much 
bound not to give Italy Fiume, as it was to give her the ter- 
ritories promised ? If Italy claimed Fiume under the principle 
of self-determination, that principle also applied to the Slav 
regions assigned to Italy under the treaty. Italy was claini- 
ing fulfillment of the treaty where she was the gainer, and 
its abrogation where it stood in the way of her demands. The 
President had "plunged the Conference into a profoundly stupid 
tragedy, by rushing into the arena waving a red flag"; his 
"name among the Allies is like that of the rich uncle, and they 
have accepted his manners out of respect for his means." "Pre- 
mier Orlando has gone home and we commend his example to 
President "Wilson." 

England and France will not hesitate to act if necessary. 
They will not permit Italy to pick out clauses of the Treaty 
of London which favor her designs, and reject those which 
favor the Jugoslavs. If she insists on the treaty she must have 
the whole treaty, and the whole treaty will leave her without 
Piuma 

A wireless message from Rome reported intense feeling 
against the Peace Conference and President Wilson. Crowds 
marched through the streets demanding Fiume and Dalmatia, 
and cheering Orlando and Sonnino. The newspapers were 
unanimous in approving the withdrawal of the delegation, and 
the reply of Orlando to the President. Political disputes were 
laid aside ; in a score of cities demonstrations were made ; and 
in some the streets were decorated with Dalmatian and Fiume 
flags. A report from London announced that the Italian Em- 
bassy had given out the statement that in many towns the 
shops were closed while crowds of demonstrants paraded shout- 
ing, "Long live America ! Down with Wilson !" Whether the 
statement were true or false, the sentiment found expression 



S42 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

in the Italian press. "The American people," said the Corriere 
d'ltalia, "cannot be in agreement with a man who so haughtily 
arrogates to himself the right to decide the fate of Europe 
against the desires of its Governments and its peoples. We 
trust, however, in the sense and justice of the English and 
French, and, above all, of the American people." "What hap- 
pened in Paris is monstrous," said the Giomale d'ltalia. 
"Against it we appeal to the common sense of the American 
people. We do not consider the generous American people re- 
sponsible for the eccentricities of its President." When Or- 
lando reached Eome the people went wild in their effort to 
show how heartily they approved his course of action. Despite 
these demonstrations Paris was sure both he and Sonnino would 
be back again at the Conference within ten days. The pre- 
diction came true for, on May 5, it was announced that Orlando 
and Sonnino would at once return to Paris. While these things 
were happening at Paris and Rome the German peace delega- 
tion was gathering at Versailles. The first party, councilors 
and secretaries of the Foreign Office, clerks, typists, interpre- 
ters, a doctor and a barber, numbering some thirty women and 
more than fifty men, reached the little station of Vaucresson, 
at dusk, on the evening of April 29, and were taken in motor 
cars and omnibuses to Versailles, three miles away. Count 
Brockdorff-E-antzau and the rest of the delegates arrived the 
evening of the thirtieth. Exchange of credentials was made, 
with no formal ceremony, on May 1. 

Some little delay now followed, for all the details of the 
treaty were not yet finished. A Belgian delegation came to 
Paris to express dissatisfaction with the terms granted her in 
the treaty. The Limburg region, Maastricht, and the left bank 
of the Scheldt, were not given her ; only Malmedy in Rhenish 
Prussia. N"o provision had been made for the recall, by Ger- 
many, of the six billion marks left in Belgium and lying useless 
in the banks, for the circulation of the mark was forbidden in 
that country. Of the five hundred million-dollar immediate 
indemnity awarded her more than half, it was reported, had 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 343 

been placed to her credit in Allied Countries as part payment 
for war loans. The Comite Politique l!^ationale, representing 
some three hundred communes, petitioned the King of the Bel- 
gians not to sign the treaty. The Burgomaster of Antwerp sent 
a telegram to the Belgian delegation to insist on complete in- 
demnity, and immediate introduction of raw materials. The 
town council of devastated Termonde sent a like request. China 
protested against the action of the Council of Three awarding 
the Peninsula of Shantung to Japan. Italy having returned 
to the Conference, her credentials were presented to the Ger- 
mans on May 6. 

The Treaty finished, the protests heard, and harmony re- 
stored, it was announced that the document so long in the 
making would be handed to the German delegation on the 
afternoon of the seventh of May, just four years to a day since 
a German submarine commander perpetrated the Lusitania 
crime. Shortly before four o'clock, in the great hall of the 
Trianon Palace Hotel, in the presence of the representatives of 
the five Allied and the twenty-two Associated Powers, M. 
Clemenceau, as President of the Peace Conference, delivered 
the treaty to Count Brockdorff-Rantzau. In opening the cere- 
mony, M. Clemenceau said: 

Grentlemen, Plenipotentiaries of the German Empire: It is 
neither the time nor the place for superfluous words. You have 
before you the accredited plenipotentiaries of all the small and great 
powers united to fight together in the war that has been so cruelly 
imposed upon them. The time has come when we must settle our 
account. 

You have asked for peace. We are ready to give you peace. We 
shall present to you now a book which contains our conditions. You 
will be given every facility to examine these conditions, and the time 
necessary for it. Everything will be done with the courtesy that is 
the privilege of civilized nations. 

To give you my thought completely, you will find us ready to 
give you any explanation you want, but we must say at the same 
time that this second treaty of Versailles has cost us too much not 
to take on our side all the necessary precautions and guarantees 
that the peace shall be a lasting one. 



344 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

I will give you notice of the procedure that has been adopted by 
the conference for discussion, and if any one has any observations 
to offer he will have the right to do so, 'No oral discussion is to 
take place, and the observations of the German delegation will have 
to be submitted in writing. 

The German plenipotentiaries will know that they have the maxi- 
mum period of fifteen days within which to present in English and 
French their written observations on the whole of the treaty. Before 
the expiration of the aforesaid period of fifteen days the German 
delegates will be entitled to send their reply on particular headings 
of the treaty, or to ask questions in regard to them. 

After having examined the observations presented within the 
aforementioned period, the Supreme Council will send its answer 
in writing to the German delegation, and determine the period 
within which the final world-wide answer must be given by this 
delegation. 

The President wishes to add that when we receive, after two or 
three, or four, or five days, any observations from the German dele- 
gation on any point of the treaty, we shall not wait until the end 
of the fifteen days to give our answer. We shall at once proceed 
in the way indicated by this document. 

Count von Brockdorff-Eantzau, speaking in German, said : 

Gentlemen: We are deeply impressed with the sublime task which 
has brought us hither to give a durable peace to the world. We 
are under no illusion as to the extent of our defeat and the degree of 
our want of power. We know that the power of the German army 
is broken. We know the power of the hatred which we encounter 
here, and we have heard the passionate demand that the vanquishers 
may make us pay as the vanquished, and punish those who are 
worthy of being punished. 

It is demanded from us that we shall confess ourselves to be 
the only ones guilty of the war. Such a confession in my mouth 
would be a lie. We are far from declining any responsibility that 
this great war of the world has come to pass, and that it was made 
in the way in which it was made. The attitude of the former 
German Government at The Hague Peace Conference, its actions 
and omissions in the tragic twelve days of July, have certainly 
contributed to the disaster. But we energetically deny that Ger- 
many and its people, who were convinced that they were making a 
W9.r of defense, were alone guilty. 



THE TREATY OF PEACE S45 

Insulting as were the words of the Count, his manner was 
more so, for he made his speech seated. It was said in his de- 
fense that he was ill and unahle to stand and make even so brief 
a speech. In reply it was pointed out that he need not have 
made a speech and that, if really unable to stand, he should in 
common decency have asked permission to be seated. That he 
intended to be insulting was firmly believed by those present. 

The Treaty thus delivered contained some eighty thousand 
words and made a book of no small dimensions. Only a sum- 
mary, therefore, was given to the public. From this summary 
it appeared that the first section consisted of the revised 
covenant of the League of N'ations. The second defined the 
frontiers of Germany in Europe. Alsace and Lorraine went to 
France. The Saar was temporarily internationalized 5 the coal 
mines went to France, and Belgium was given Malmedy and 
the Eupen districts of Prussia. The inhabitants were allowed 
six months in which to protest, and the League of Nations to 
make the final decision. Luxemburg was set free from the Ger- 
man customs union. Danzig was internationalized for all time. 
Germany must recognize the independence of Poland, and 
cede to her most of Upper Silesia, the province of Posen and 
all of West Prussia lying west of the Vistula. The fate of 
the southeastern part of East Prussia, and of the area between 
it and the Vistula north of latitude 53° 3' must be decided by 
popular vote. So also must that of a part of Schleswig. All 
fortifications and military establishments on the islands of 
Heligoland and Dune must be destroyed, under supervision 
of the Allies, by German labor, and at Germany's cost, and no 
fortifications or military establishments were to be maintained 
within fifty kilometers of the east bank of the Ehine. Germany 
recognizes, said the treaty, the total independence of German- 
Austria, the total independence of the Czecho-Slovak state, and 
the "Free City of Danzig" ; renounces all right and title to her 
overseas possessions; all privileges and indemnities resulting 
from the Boxer Protocol of 1901; agrees to return all astro- 
nomical instruments seized in 1900 and 1901; renounces all 



346 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

concessions at Hankow and Tien-tsin, China; recognizes the 
British protectorate over Egypt; renounces all rights, titles, 
and privileges under the act of Algesiras and the Franco- 
German agreements of 1909 and 1911, and all rights under the 
international agreement regarding Liberia in 1911 and 1912. 

Within two months after signing the Treaty, Germany must 
reduce her army to not more than one hundred thousand offi- 
cers and men, and within three months close all her estab- 
lishments for designing, making, and storing munitions of war, 
save such as were specified, and discharge all workmen therein 
employed ; import no arms or munitions of war, nor import nor 
manufacture any poisonous, asphyxiating or other gases. Con- 
scription was forbidden. "No military schools, save such as 
were absolutely necessary for the units allowed, and no asso- 
ciations, such as societies of discharged soldiers, shooting, or 
touring clubs, should exist in Germany two months after the 
peace. 

Within the same space of time the navy must be demobilized, 
the personnel reduced to fifteen thousand men, the fleet reduced 
to six small battleships, six light cruisers, twelve destroyers, 
twelve torpedo boats. itTo submarines were allowed her. The 
largest armored battleship must not exceed ten thousand tons. 
Forty-two modern destroyers, fifty modern torpedo boats, and 
all submarines must be surrendered. 

Until October 1, 1919, Germany might use not over one 
hundred unarmed seaplanes to search for submarine mines. 
Eut no dirigible could be kept. The entire air personnel must 
be demobilized within two months, save a thousand officers and 
men to serve until October 1. There must be no military or 
naval air force after that date, and no aviation grounds or 
dirigible sheds within one hundred and fifty kilometers of the 
Rhine. 

"The Allied and Associated Powers," so runs the Treaty, 
"publicly arraign William II, of Hohenzollern, formerly Ger- 
man Emperor, not for an offense against criminal law, but for 
a supreme offense against international morality and the sane- 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 347 

tity of treaties." Demand for his surrender was to be made 
on Holland, that he might be tried before a tribunal composed 
of one judge from each of the five great powers. Persons ac- 
cused of acts done in violation of the laws and customs of war 
were to be tried and punished by military tribunals under 
military law. If the charges affected people of but one State, 
they were to be tried before a tribunal of that state ; if persons 
of several States, before a joint tribunal of the States concerned. 

Germany must make full reparation for all losses and dam- 
ages caused to civilians, by personal injury, by acts of cruelty, 
by maltreatment of prisoners, by forced labor, by levies and 
fines, and damages to property other than military and naval, 
and damages to the Allies, represented by pensions and separa- 
tion allowances. An Allied Reparation Commission was to de- 
termine the amount of such damages; but within two years 
Germany must pay twenty billions of marks in gold, goods, or 
ships, or other forms of payment. 

All merchant ships and fishing boats, lost because of the war, 
must be replaced, ton for ton, and class for class. The Heparan 
tion Commission was authorized to require Germany to re- 
place, in the devastated area, destroyed articles by the delivery 
of animals, machinery, and manufactured material required for 
reconstruction purposes. During ten years she must deliver 
to France coal equivalent to the difference between the pre- 
war output of the N^ord and Pas de Calais mines, and their 
annual production during the ten-year period. Within six 
months Germany must restore the Koran of the Caliph Othman 
to the King of the Hedjaz ; the skull of the Sultan Okwawa to 
his Britannic Majesty's Government; and to France, certain 
papers taken by the Germans in 18Y0, and the French battle 
flags captured during the war of 1870 and 1871. Eeparation 
must be made for the destruction of the Library at Louvain ; 
and the wings of the altar piece, "The Adoration of the Lamb," 
the center of which was in the Church of St. Bevon at Ghent, 
and the wings of the altar piece of "The Last Supper," the 



348 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

center of whicli was in the Churcli of St. Peter at Louvain, 
must be delivered to Belgium. 

That Czecho-Slovakia might have access to the sea, Germany 
must lease her, for ninety-nine years, spaces in Hamburg and 
Stettin. Towards the Adriatic she was to be permitted to run 
her own trains to Fiume and Trieste. The Kiel Canal was to 
be free to the war and merchant ships of all nations at peace 
with Germany. The Elbe and the Oder were to be placed 
under international commissioners, and the Rhine under a com- 
mission appointed by Germany, Great Britain, France, Bel- 
gium, Switzerland and the ^Netherlands. There were sections 
relating to finance, to tariffs and shipping, to the opium trade, 
aerial navigation, railways and international labor. 

Severe as was the Treaty it did not, France claimed, give 
sufficient guarantees against attacks upon her by Germany. 
Lloyd George and President Wilson, therefore, entered into 
an agreement to endeavor to bind their countries to come to 
the aid of Prance, if attacked, and made their pledge public 
on the day on which the Treaty was handed to Count Brock- 
dorff-Rantzau. 

In addition to the securities afforded in the treaty of peace, the 
President of the United States has pledged himself to propose to 
the Senate of the United States, and the Prime Minister of Great 
Britain has pledged himself to propose to the Parliament of Great 
Britain, an engagement, subject to the approval of the Council of 
the League of Nations, to come immediately to the assistance of 
France in case of unprovoked attack by Germany. 

While the German plenipotentiaries were perusing the 
Treaty at Versailles the terms were made known in Berlin, and 
brought forth a storm of protests, threats and abuse. The 
president of the imperial ministry, in a telegram to the gov- 
ernments of the German States, said : 

In deep distress and weighed down by cares, the German people 
have waited through the months of the armistice for the peace condi- 
tions. Their publication has brought the bitterest disappointment 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 349 

and unspeakable grief to the entire people. A public expression 
ought to be given these feelings of all Germans. The Imperial 
Government requests that the free states have public amusements 
suspended for a week and allow, in the theaters, only such produc- 
tions as correspond to the seriousness of these grievous days. 

Speaking to the Prussian Assembly, Premier Hirsck called 
the terms offered a "mailed fist peace" that meant slavery to the 
Fatherland. 

"The Government appeals to you," he said, "to close youi* 
ranks, preserve your calm, and avoid indiscretion in case of dissen- 
sions. We are faced by the question of to be, or not to be. The 
entire nation must stand behind the government to convert this 
projected peace of violence into a peace of right. That is possible 
only if the nation which is expected to sign its own death warrant 
firmly supports the government. This, the most mournful day in 
our history, must find us strong." 

In the opinion of the Berlin press the treaty was an instru- 
ment of robbery, and offered a peace of annihilation. Said the 
Tages Zeitung: "One thing is certain; there can be no ques- 
tion of this being a peace of justice. What a peace of justice 
after the Entente pattern, and in accordance with French de- 
sires, looks like is shown by the conditions which leave nothing 
of Germany but a torn and tattered territory." 

The Tagehlatt, although "prepared for a good deal, even for 
everything," could "only say that the treaty surpasses our worst 
expectations. It does not show a trace of statesmanship, or of 
President Wilson's principles, but is a brutal, thoughtless 
product of thoughtless, intoxicated brutality." "We are at the 
graveside of right," said the Frankfurter Zeitung. "The only 
doubt is whether it also means the graveside of the German 
nation. Never has murder been committed in more courteous 
form, or with more cynical equanimity. The German reply 
will have to consider that the draft deviates from Mr. Wilson's 
'fourteen points' as far as the East is from the West." 

Vorwaerts saw in the treaty "a peace of annihilation," a 
"ruthless desire to lay Germany permanently low by force.. If 



350 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

we sign this peace it is because we are bound by force, but 
in our hearts we resolutely reject it. Such a peace is an at- 
tempt to exterminate a nation, not by force of arms, but by a 
means more brutal, economic slavery." 

The National Assembly having gathered at Berlin, instead 
of at Weimar, to discuss the terms of peace, Chancellor Scheide- 
mann brought members and spectators to their feet when he 
said : 

This treaty is, from the viewpoint of the Government, unaccept- 
able, so unacceptable I am unable to believe that this earth could 
bear such a document without a cry issuing from millions and 
millions of throats in all lands, without distinction of party. Away 
with this murderous scheme. 

The representatives of the nation [he continued] meet here aa 
the last band of the faithful assemblies when the Fatherland is in 
the greatest danger. All have appeared except the representatives 
of Alsace-Lorraine, who have been deprived of the right to be rep- 
resented here, just as you are to be deprived of the right to exercise 
in a free vote, the right of self-determination. 

And I see among you the representatives of all the German races 
and lands, the chosen representatives of the Khineland, the Saar, 
East Prussia, West Prussia, Posen, Silesia, Danzig and Memel. 
Together, with the deputies of the unmenaced regions, I see ^he 
deputies of the menaced provinces, who, if the will of our enemies 
becomes law, are to meet for the last time as Germans among 
Germans. 

The thing which is at the basis of our discussion is this thick 
volume, in which 100 sentences begin "Germany renounces." This 
dreadful and murderous volume, by which confession of our own 
unworthiness, our consent to pitiless disruption, our agreement to 
helotry and slavery, are to be extorted — this book must not become 
the future code of law. 

The world has once again lost an illusion. The nations have in 
this period, which is so poor in ideals, again lost a belief. What 
name on thousands of bloody battlefields, in thousands of trenches, 
in orphan families and among the despairing and abandoned, has 
been mentioned during these four years with more devotion and 
belief than the name of Wilson? To-day the picture of the peace- 
bringer, as the world pictured him, is paling beside the dark forms 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 351 

of our jailers, to one of whom, Premier Clemenceau, a Erenchman, 
recently wrote: "The wild beast has been put in a cage on bread 
and water, but is allowed to keep his teeth, while his claws are 
hardly cut." 

• • • • • • • 

Germany has ceased to exist abroad, but if that were not sufficient, 
her cables have been taken from her and her wireless stations can 
send only commercial telegrams, and then only under control of the 
Allies. This would separate us from the outer world, for what busi- 
ness can be done under the control of competitors need not to be 
described. 

I ask you what honest man will say that Germany can accept 
such conditions. At the same time, as we shall have to bestir our- 
selves to perform forced labor for the benefit of the entire world, 
our foreign trade, the sole source of our welfare, is destroyed and 
our home trade is rendered impossible. Lorraine iron ore, Upper 
Silesian coal, Alsatian potash, the Saar Valley mines and the cheap 
foodstuffs from Posen and west Prussia are to lie outside our fron- 
tiers. We are to impose no higher tariff or protection than existed 
on August 1, 1914, while our enemies may do as much as they like 
at every point in strangling us at home. All German revenues must 
be held at the disposal of our enemies for payments, not for war 
invalids and widows — all as forced labor for products the prices of 
which will be fixed by our customers. 

What is a people to do which is confronted by the command that 
it is responsible for all losses and damages that its enemies suffered 
in the war? What is a people to do which is to have no voice in 
fixing its obligations? 

Enough. More than enough. These are some examples of the 
treaty stipulations in establishing which, as Premier Clemenceau 
yesterday informed our delegation, the Entente will be guided com- 
pletely by the principles according to which the armistice and peace 
negotiations were proposed. 

President Ebert declared that the German people had been 
hypnotized by President Wilson and his fourteen points, but 
still had faith that the American people would not permit such 
a peace to be made. "The German people," he said, "is only 
beginning to awake from the hypnosis into which it has been 



352 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

lulled because of its solid faith in the sincerity and truth of 
the fullness of Mr. Wilson's program, and his fourteen points. 
The awakening will be terrifying, and we all look forward to 
it with gravest apprehensions. In the face of the cold, naked 
realities we still consciously cling to the faith which found its 
epitome in the names of Wilson and the United States, and 
the conception of the democracy of the League of ISTations. 

We cannot believe that this has all been an illusion, and that the 
confidence and hopes of a whole people have been duped in a manner 
unknown to history. Even now optimists are saying, "Wilson will 
not permit it; he dare not possibly permit it." 

I and my colleagues, upon whom rests the terrific burden of the 
forthcoming decisions, hope and pray the German people who 
staked all on President Wilson and the United States shall not find 
themselves deceived. If, however, the American democracy actually 
accepts the present peace terms as its own, it becomes an accomplice 
and an abettor of political blackmailers; it surrenders the tradi- 
tional^ American principle of fair play and sportsmanship and trails 
the ideals of true democracy in the duct. 

Notwithstanding the night now covering it, I have abiding faith 
in the future of the German people, and in the unconquerability 
of its soul. This people, which has given the world so much in 
science, learning and industry, must not go down to oblivion. It 
still has a cultural mission to perform, and ethical treasures to 
bestow. 

Mathias Erzherger, head of the German commission that 
signed the armistice, gave his views to a correspondent of the 
!N"ew York Times. 

I have not lost hope. I believe that a new basis will be found on 
which to build up quite a new treaty. I put my trust in the victory 
of the right. I was one of the first, if not the first, to stand up for 
the right in Germany during the war, when it was dangerous. Shall 
we say that no Government can possibly agree to the thing as it 
stands? By the treaty Germany is garroted, bound hand and foot, 
gagged and blinded. We will have less freedom than Egypt under it. 
Germany sacrified all except one hope. That hope was that within 
the range of President Wilson's fourteen points a bearable peace 
might be reached. Now, even that remnant of our hopes has re- 
ceived a mortal blow. We cannot sign the treaty as it stands, for 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 353 

it condemns us to death. Not to sign would mean the same, most 
likely; but if we are to go under, let us go quickly at least. 

We are ready to give the coal France requires, every ton of it, 
but we cannot give up German land with it. We cannot consent 
to be ruled like an African colony. Look at what our coal position 
is to an industrial nation and what it would be under the terms of 
the treaty. We produced in peace times about 160,000,000 tons of 
coal. Well, then, we should lose 15,000,000 tons from the Saar 
region, and 60,000,000 tons in addition, which is the output of 
Upper Silesia. We require 40,000,000 tons for our railways and 
for household purposes, while another 40,000,000 tons must go to 
France and Belgium. Thus we shall not have a ton of coal left 
for German industries. Surely no reasonable person can expect us 
to sign our death warrant in that way. 

I find that under the armistice terms we have already paid 11,000,- 
000,000 marks. That still leaves us 9,000,000,000 to pay. It is 
simply impossible in two years. 

We have no money to pay for all the food we need, and butter, 
meat, and potatoes are rapidly becoming scarcer. If we could get 
all the supplies which we were permitted to buy, then we could 
manage to live, though on scanty rations, until the next harvest. 

But, despite all, Germany stands by her aim to achieve friend- 
ship with the whole world, even with those countries which to-day. 
hate us with deadly hatred. Therefore she will put forth all her 
remaining strength in order to sweep out of the way those obstacles 
which the fanatics of hate have placed in the way of a real League 
of Nations. 

The world is one whole. A sick and dying Germany, which this 
treaty would mean, would be a source of unrest and danger for 
the whole world. 

We refuse to plead and beg. We ask for our rights under the 
fourteen points, which our opponents made binding on themselves. 
We ask precisely on the basis of those fourteen points that stern 
justice of which Lloyd George has spoken. 

If we are denied that, then the consequences will be upon the 
heads of those who made the promises which they never intended to 
keep, even with the new Germany, and who have therefore brought 
us to this desert of hopelessness in which we look around in vain 
for an oasis wnere springs the well of humanity. 

As the German plenipotentiaries studied the terms of peace, 
note followed note of protest. The essential points of the basis 



354 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

of peace, Count Brockdorff-Kantzau wrote, had been abandoned, 
demands bad been made wbicb no nation could endure, and 
according to experts many things required to be done could 
not possibly be performed. The German peace delegates were 
not prepared to find that the promise, explicitly given to the 
German people and the whole of mankind, "is in this way to be 
rendered illusory." They would substantiate these statements 
in detail, and transmit to the Allies and associate governments 
"their observations and their material continuously." 

The representatives of the Allied and Associated Powers, was 
the reply of M. Clemenceau, wish to remind the German dele- 
gation that they have formulated the terms of the treaty with 
constant thought of the principles on which the armistice and 
the negotiations for peace were proposed; that they can admit 
no discussion of their right to insist on the terms of the peace 
substantially as drafted; and that they can consider only such 
practical suggestions as the German plenipotentiaries may have 
to submit. 

In a second note Count Brockdorff-Rantzau complained that 
the delegation was required to sign the covenant of the League 
of Nations as part of the treaty, yet were not mentioned among 
the nations invited to join the League, and begged "to inquire 
whether, and, if so, under what circumstance, such invitation 
is intended." German plenipotentiaries would find on a re- 
examination of the covenant of the League of ISTations that the 
matter of the admission of additional member states had not 
been overlooked, but was "explicitly provided for in the second 
paragraph of Article I." 

A third note, delivered on the evening of May 10th, had 
to do with labor, and suggested the holding of a labor conven- 
tion at Versailles. A fourth suggested a special commission 
to see to all the details of repatriation of German prisoners of 
war and interned civilians. A fifth asked permission to send 
a delegation to meet the Austrian plenipotentiaries when they 
came. A sixth, dealing with economic conditions, and declar- 
ing they meant the min of Germany; a seventh protesting 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 355 

against the Saar "Valley settlement, the transfer of Malmedy, 
Moesnet and Eupen districts to Belgium, and the forced evacu- 
ation of a part of Schleswig, and an eighth complaining of the 
forced payment by Germany for the devastation of Belgium and 
JSTorthern France, reached M. Clemenceau on May 14:. 

Count Brockdorff-Rantzau now went to Spa, and at once it 
was asserted that he would not return, that he had requested 
to be replaced. He returned, however, on the morning of May 
19th, bringing some forty experts with him, and on the next 
day addressed another note to M. Clemenceau, stating that he 
intended "during the next few days to submit communications 
to the Allied and associated governments on the following 
points, which, in the eyes of the delegation, fall under the 
definition of suggestions of a practical nature: 

"First, a note concerning territorial questions in the East; 
second, a note concerning Alsace-Lorraine; third, a note con- 
ceraing the occupied territories; fourth, a note concerning the 
extent and discharge of the obligations undertaken by Ger- 
many in view of reparation ; fifth, a note concerning the further 
practical treatment of the question of labor laws ; sixth, a note 
concerning the treatment of German private property in enemy 
countries." The problems involved were so complicated that 
it had been necessary to discuss them extensively with the ex- 
perts in Versailles, as well as with those in Berlin. To dispose 
of them within the time limit of fifteen days would not be 
possible, "although the delegation will take pains to transmit as 
many notes as possible within the limit." Therefore he begged 
"in the name of the German peace delegation, to move that the 
contents of the intended notes be regarded as having already 
been made the subject of discussion in writing, and that the 
requisite time be granted to us for a more detailed exposition." 
The time was extended until May 29. 

Reports from Berlin were all to the effect that Germany 
ivould not sign the treaty. In Paris they were looked on as 
propaganda, and the notes as having been prepared in Berlin 
before the treaty was delivered to the Germans. In none, it was 



356 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

pointed out, was the text of the treaty quoted, and the matter 
complained of was such as everybody knew would he contained 
in the treaty. Nevertheless, the Allies made ready for the worst, 
prepared plans for quick action, and sent Marshal Foch to the 
front. General Pershing cancelled an engagement to visit 
London. 

May 20, the day when the time within which the Germans 
must finish their observations on the treaty was carried for- 
ward, the German Cabinet gave out, through the Associated 
Press, a bitter attack on the treaty. 

Germany declines to sign the peace terms laid before it because 
they spell the economic destruction, political dishonor and moral 
degradation of the entire German nation, not only for the present 
but also for still unborn generations. 

That these consequences must logically follow acceptance of the 
peace conditions, the American press itself has recognized without 
question. Toward them, Germany took the standpoint that accept- 
ance of such conditions could not be demanded, and that the En- 
tente was unjustified in imposing such demands, 

Germany has not only a moral right to compliance with the gen- 
eral promises made it but a firmly grounded, definite, clearly defined 
claim, according to the basic rules of international law, on all the 
Entente powers and, especially, on the United States. A specific 
recognition of the right of Germany and of the German peoples to 
a peace of right, justice and reconciliation, instead of the para- 
graphed song of hate, which was written at Versailles, is contained 
in the note of the American secretary of state, Lansing, of Novem- 
ber 5, 1918. 

In it, the secretary of state notified the Swiss minister in Wash- 
ington, unconditionally, that the established basis of President Wil- 
son's fourteen points should be authoritative for the peace conditions. 
Secretary Lansing announced further that the Entente governments, 
after careful consideration, also were prepared to recognize the con- 
ditions set up by President Wilson as the basis for the conclusion 
of peace. 

The declaration of rights, emanating from these specific declara- 
tions of all the Entente powers and the United States, constitutes 
Germany's sole asset in the general moral breakdown of all interna- 
tional politics, which has found unsurpassable expression in the 
Versailles terms. 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 357 

Germany answers them with its clearly juristic right in interna- 
tional law. Toward the politico-moral bankruptcy of Versailles the 
German nation stands as a creditor with undeniable rights, and it 
is not in position to yield on this chief point. Germany concluded 
peace on the basis of President Wilson's fourteen points, which all 
America had made its own, and all America, every individual, is 
responsible for the fulfillment of its claims. 

It is not the German people's business to indicate how its rights 
shall be realized by the fourteen points, or especially by the* note 
of Secretary Lansing. That, rather, is the task of those who con- 
structed the fourteen points, and brought them to acceptance, thereby 
inducing Germany to lay down her weapons. We do not believe that 
President Wilson, Secretary Lansing, and the American people, can 
take other than this German standpoint, if they do not wish to do 
that which President Wilson, in his message of December 4, 1917, 
condemned categorically, when he said: "We would dishonor our 
own cause if we treated Germany any other than justly, and in a 
non-partisan manner and did not insist upon justice toward all, no 
matter how the war ended. We demand nothing which we are not 
ready ourselves to admit." 

And the German people demand nothing more than that which 
President Wilson announced in this declaration. We demand noth- 
ing more than that Americans place the fourteen points opposite 
the peace terms. We do not believe that any one in the United States 
will then have the courage to claim that there can be found in the 
peace conditions one single trace left of President Wilson's pro- 
gram. 

And here begins America's definite duty to step in. America 
either must put its fourteen points through, or it must declare 
that it is unable to do so, or that it does not want to do so, so that 
in no case may the world be led to believe that America desires to 
have the peace conditions count as President Wilson's fourteen points. 

That is our demand, to which we cling, and we cannot imagine 
what arguments from the American side would be effective against 
it. 



Chancellor Scheidemanii, Bernhard Dernburg, Count von 
BernstorfF, and Mathias Erzberger now met Count Brockdorff- 
Rantzau, at Spa, to go over the final draft of the counter 
proposal to be submitted to the Allies at Versailles. On his 
return, three more notes treating of reparation and responsi- 



358 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

bility, German property in allied countries, and German re- 
ligious missions in foreign parts, were sent to the Peace Con- 
ferenca 

The time set by the Conference within which the German 
peace delegates must finish their work, and make their decision, 
had almost expired when, on May 28th, an unofficial summary of 
the reply was published in Berlin, the day before its official 
delivery to President Clemenceau. This reply was, in fact, a 
long counter proposal, and opened with the assertion that Ger- 
many was entitled to a peace based on President Wilson's four- 
teen points, because the Entente Power had agreed to peace on 
that basis, and neither Mr. Wilson nor any of the Allied Gov- 
ernments had since demanded peace on any other basis. Ger- 
many had replaced an imperialistic and irresponsible govern- 
ment by a strictly democratic government. Yet it would be 
hard to see what different conditions could be imposed were she 
under a government of the old imperialistic form. The solemn 
assurances of Great Britain, Prance, and Mr. Wilson, that the 
peace should be a peace of justice and right, and not one of 
violence, had not been kept. 

Germany would disarm all her battleships if a part of her 
merchant marine were restored ; but proposed that there be no 
territorial changes, save with the consent of populations con- 
cerned. Germany demanded that Danzig be made a free port, 
and the Vistula River neutralized ; rejected the cession of Upper 
Silesia and the claims to East Prussia, West Prussia and 
Memel; objected to the disposition of the Saar region, Eupen, 
Malmedy, Morosnet and Alsace, and demanded an impartial 
settlement of all colonial claims as promised by the fifth of 
President Wilson's fourteen points. Should a League of 
nSTations be formed, and Germany be immediately admitted, 
she was ready to administer her colonies in accordance with the 
principles of the League, and "in given circumstances as its 
mandatory." The treaty, in her opinion, was a full repudia- 
tion of the idea that every nation has a right to existence, and 
violated the right of self-determination. Germany, as a nation, 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 359 

was to be destroyed. The treaty meant the ruin of German 
economic life, and doomed the German people to financial 
slavery. Germany would pay, as indemnity, 20,000,000,000 
marks by 1926, and from 1927 onward would make annual 
payments to a total of not more than 100,000,000,000 marks 
in gold. Objection was made to the demand that Germans be 
surrendered for trial in enemy courts, and to the requirement 
that Germany acknowledge that she, and her allies, were re- 
sponsible for all damage suffered by the opposing nations. Jt 
could not be disputed that some of the Allies, as Italy and 
Eoumania, entered the war for territorial conquests. 

A covering note from Count Brockdorff-Rantzau contained 
observations of the German delegation on the Treaty of Peace. 
We came to Versailles, it said, expecting to receive a peace 
proposal based on agreed principles, firmly resolved to do all in 
our power to fulfill the grave obligations we had undertaken, 
and hoping for that peace of justice which had been promised 
to us. We were aghast when we read the demands made by 
the victorious violence of our enemies. The more deeply we 
study the spirit of the treaty the more convinced we are that 
to carry it out is not possible. The demands of the treaty are 
more than the German people can bear. Territory, beyond 
question German, nearly all West Prussia, which is preponder- 
antly German, Pomerania, Pomerania-Danzig, which is Ger- 
man to the core, must be given up to Poland, and that ancient 
Hanse town transformed into a free state under Polish suze- 
rainty. We must agree that East Prussia shall be cut from the 
body of the State, condemned to a lingering death, and robbed 
of its northern portion, which is pure German. Upper Silesia 
must be renounced for the benefit of Poland and Czecho- 
slovakia, though it has been bound in close political connection 
with Germany for more than seven centuries and a half, and is 
instinct with German life and customs. Circles preponderantly 
German must be ceded to Belgium, and the purely German 
district of the Saar must be severed from our Empire, and the 
way paved for its subsequent annexation to Prance. 



S60 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Thus cut to pieces and weakened, Germanv must declare her- 
self ready to bear all the war expenses of her enemies, exceed- 
ing many times over the total German state and private assets. 
IN'o limit is fixed, save the capacity of the German people to 
meet the demands of their enemies by their labor. The German 
people would thus be condemned to perpetual slavery. 

We must surrender our merchant fleet, we must renounce our 
foreign securities, we must give over to our enemies all German 
enterprises abroad, we must renounce our colonies, and not even 
German missionaries shall have the right to follow their calling 
therein. Germany's chief waterways are subjected to inter- 
national control. She must build, in her territory, such canals 
and railways as her enemies wish, and agree to treaties, the 
contents of which she does not know, to be made by her enemies 
with the new states on the east. She is excluded from the 
League of ISTations to which is entrusted all work of common 
interest to the world, and must sign the decree for her own 
proscription, nay, her own death sentence. 

Against all these things certain counter-proposals were made. 
Germany would proceed with her own disarmament in advance 
of all other peoples in order to show her willingness to help 
usher in the new era of the peace of justice; would give up 
universal compulsory service, reduce her army to 100,000 men, 
and even surrender the warships which her enemies were will- 
ing to leave in her hands. But she must stipulate that she be 
admitted forthwith, as a state with equal rights, into the League 
of ISTations, which should be a genuine League of Nations, em- 
bracing all peoples of good will, even her enemies of to-day, 
and must be inspired by a feeling of responsibility toward man- 
kind, and have at its disposal a power to enforce its will suffi- 
ciently to protect the frontiers of its members. 

"Second. In territorial questions Germany takes up her 
position unreservedly on the ground of the Wilson program. 
She renounces her sovereign right in Alsace-Lorraine, but 
wishes a free plebiscite to take place there. She gives up the 
great part of the province of Posen, the district incontestably 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 361 

Polish in population, together with the capital. She is prepared 
to grant to Poland, under international guarantees, free and 
secure access to the sea by ceding free ports at Danzig, Konigsr 
hurg and Memel, by an agreement regulation, the navigation 
of the Vistula and by special railway conventions. Germany 
is prepared to ensure the supply of coal for the economic needs 
of France, especially from the Saar region, until such time as 
the French mines are once more in working order. 

"The preponderantly Danish districts of Schleswig will be 
given up to Denmark on the basis of a plebiscite. Germany 
demands that the right of seK-determination shall also be re- 
peated where the interests of the Germans in Austria and 
Bohemia are concerned. 

"She is ready to submit all her colonies to administration by 
the community of the League of Nations if she is recognized as 
its mandatory. 

"Third. Germany is prepared to make payments incumbent 
on her in accordance with the agreed program of peace up 
to the maximum sum of 100,000,000,000 of gold marks 
($25,000,000,000)— 20,000,000,000 by May 1, 1926, and the 
balance (80,000,000,000) in annual payments without interest. 
These payments shall in principle be equal to a fixed percentage 
of the German imperial and state revenues. The annual pay- 
ment shall approximate to the former peace budget. For the 
first ten years the annual payments shall not exceed 1,000,- 
000,000 of gold marks a year. The German taxpayer shall not 
be less heavier burdened than the taxpayer of the most heavily 
burdened state among those represented on the reparation 
commission. 

"Germany presumes in this connection that she will not have 
to make any territorial sacrifices beyond those mentioned above 
and that she will recover her freedom of economic movement 
at home and abroad. 

"Fourth. Germany is prepared to devote her entire economic 
strength to the service of reconstruction. She wishes to co- 
operate effectively in the reconstruction of the devastated 



362 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

regions of Belgium and nortliem France. To make good the 
loss in production of the destroyed mines in northern France, 
up to twenty million tons of coal will be delivered annually for 
the first five years and up to eight million tons for the next five 
years. Germany will facilitate further deliveries of coal to 
France, Belgium, Italy and Luxemburg. 

"Germany is, moreover, prepared to make considerable de- 
liveries of bensol, coal tar and sulphate of ammonia, as well as 
dyestuffs and medicines. 

"Fifth. Finally Germany offers to put her entire merchant 
tonnage into a pool of the world's shipping, to place at the 
disposal of her enemies a part of her freight space as part pay- 
ment on reparation, and to build for them for a series of 
years in German yards an amount of tonnage exceeding their 
demands. 

"Sixth. In order to replace the river boats destroyed in Bel- 
gium and northern France, Germany offers river craft from 
her own resources. 

"Seventh. Germany thinks that she sees an appropriate 
method for the fulfillment of her obligation to make reparation 
by conceding prompt participation in industrial enterprises, 
especially in coal mines to insure deliveries of coal. 

"Eighth. Germany, in accordance with the desires of the 
workers of the whole world, wishes to see the workers in all 
countries free and enjoying equal rights. She wishes to insure 
to them in the treaty of peace the right to take their own 
decisive part in the settlement of social policy and social 
protection. 

"Mnth. The German delegation again makes its demand 
for a neutral entry into the responsibility for the war and 
culpable acts in conduct. An impartial commission should have 
the right to investigate on its own responsibility the archives 
of all the belligerent countries and all the persons who took an 
important part in the war. 

"Nothing short of confidence that the question of guilt will 
be examined dispassionately can have the people lately at war 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 363 

with eacli other in the proper frame of mind for the formation 
of the League of Nations. 

"These are only the most important among the proposals 
which we have to make. As regards other great sacrifices, and 
also as regards details, the delegation refers to the accompany- 
ing memorandum and the annex thereto. 

"The time allowed us for the preparation of this memoran- 
dum was so short that it was impossible to treat all the questions 
exhaustively. A fruitful and illuminating negotiation could 
only take place by means of oral discussion. This treaty of 
peace is to be the greatest achievement of its kind in all his- 
tory. There is no precedent for the conduct of such compre- 
hensive negotiations by an exchange of written notes only. The 
feeling of the peoples who have made such immense sacrifices 
makes them demand that their fate should be decided by an 
open, unreserved exchange of ideas on the principle, 'Quite 
open covenants of peace openly arrived at, after which there 
shall be no private international understandings of any kind, 
but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly in the public view.' 

"Germany is to put her signature to the treaty laid before 
her and to carry it. Even in her need, justice for her is too 
sacred a thing to allow her to stoop to achieve conditions which 
she cannot undertake to carry out. Treaties of peace signed by 
the great powers have, it is true, in the history of the last 
decades again and again proclaimed the right of the stronger. 
But each of these treaties has been a factor in originating and 
prolonging the world war. Whenever in this war the victor has 
spoken to the vanquished, at Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest, his 
words were but the seeds of future discord. The lofty aims 
which our adversaries first set before themselves in their con- 
duct of the war, the new era of an assured peace by justice, 
demand a treaty instinct with a different spirit. Only the 
cooperation of all nations, a cooperation of hands and spirits, 
can build up a durable peace. We are under no delusions re- 
garding the strength of the hatred and bitterness which this 
war has engendered, and yet the forces which are at work for 



364 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

a union of mankind are stronger now than ever they were 
before. The historic task of the Peace Conference of Versailles 
is to bring about this union." 

In good time the Allied and Associated Powers, through 
Premier Clemenceau, made reply. In their opinion the war 
"was the greatest crime against humanity and freedom of the 
people that any nation calling itself civilized has ever con- 
sciously committed." For many years the rulers of Germany 
had striven to "dictate and tyrannize over a subservient Europe 
as they dictated and tyrannized over a subservient Germany." 
To attain their ends, they never ceased to expand German 
armament by land and by sea, propagated the falsehood that 
it was necessary because Germany's neighbors were jealous of 
her power, sowed hostility and suspicion between nations, kept 
Europe in a ferment by threats of violence, and when their 
neighbors "resolved to resist their arrogant will," "asserted 
their predominance in Europe by force." 

When all was prepared they encouraged a subservient ally to 
declare war on Serbia, on forty-eight hours' notice, a war which 
they knew involved the Balkans, could not be localized, and was 
bound to bring on a war of all European nations, refused every 
attempt at conciliation and conference until too late, and until 
the world war, for which they had plotted, and for which they 
alone were prepared, was inevitable. 

Germany, the note charged, was not merely responsible for 
starting the war. She was also responsible for the savage and 
inhuman manner in which it was conducted. She violated the 
neutrality of Belgium, carried out a series of promiscuous 
shootings and burnings with the sole object of terrifying the 
people into submission, drove thousands of men, women and 
children, with brutal savagery, into slavery in foreign lands, 
and practised against prisoners of war, barbarities from which 
the most uncivilized people would have recoiled. She was the 
first to use poisonous gas, despite the frightful suffering it 
entailed, began the bombing and long distance shelling of towns 
for no military object whatever, but for the sole purpose of 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 365 

destroying the morale of their opponents by striking at their 
women and children. She was the first to begin the submarine 
campaign with its defiance of international law, and its destruc- 
tion of great numbers of innocent passengers and sailors in 
mid-ocean, far from succor, at the mercy of wind and wave, 
and yet more ruthless submarine crews. 

"The conduct of Germany is almost unexampled in human 
history. The terrible responsibility which lies at her doors can 
be seen by the fact that not less than seven million dead lie 
buried in Europe, while more than twenty million others carry 
upon them the evidence of wounds and suffering, because Ger- 
many saw fit to gratify her lust for tyranny by resort to war." 

Were the Allied and Associated Powers to consent to treat 
war as other than a crime against humanity and right, they 
would be false to those who gave their all to save the freedom 
of the world. This was made perfectly clear to the Germans 
during the war by President Wilson in his speeches, by Premier 
Lloyd George, by Premier Orlando, each of whom declared that 
compromise as to the terms of peace was impossible, and that 
just punishment should be meted out. 

"Justice, therefore, is the only possible basis for the settler 
ment of the accounts of this terrible war. Justice is what the 
German delegation asks for, and says that Germany has been 
promised. But it must be justice for all. There must be jus- 
tice for the dead and wounded, and for those who have been 
made orphans and bereaved that Europe might be free from 
Prussian despotism. There must be justice for the peoples who 
now stagger under war debts, which exceed $30,000,000,000, 
that liberty might be saved. There must be justice for those 
millions whose homes and lands, ships and property, German 
savagery has spoliated and destroyed. 

"That is why the Allied and Associated Powers have insisted 
as a cardinal feature of the treaty that Germany must under- 
take to make reparations to the very uttermost of her power, 
for reparation for wrongs inflicted is of the essence of justice. 

"That is why they insist that those individuals who are most 



366 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

clearly responsible for German aggression, and for those acts 
of barbarism and inhumanity which have disgraced the German 
conduct of the war, must be handed over to justice, which has 
not been meted out to them at home. 

"That, too, is why Germany must submit for a few years to 
certain special disabilities and arrangements. Germany has 
ruined the industries, the mines and the machinery of neighbor- 
ing countries, not during battle, but with deliberate and calcu- 
lated purpose of enabling her own industries to seize their mar- 
kets before their industries could recover from the devastation 
thus wantonly inflicted upon them. 

"Germany has despoiled her neighbors of everything she 
could make use of or carry away. Germany has destroyed the 
shipping of all nations on the high seas, where there was no 
chance of rescue for their passengers and crews. 

"It is only justice that restitution should be made, and that 
these wronged peoples should be safeguarded for a time from 
the competition of a nation where industries are intact and 
have even been fortified by machinery stolen from occupied 
territories. If these things are hardships for Germany, they 
are hardships which Germany has brought upon herself. Some- 
body must suffer for the consequences of the war. Is it to be 
Germany, or the peoples she has wronged? 

"N"ot to do justice to all concerned would only leave the 
world open to fresh calamities. If the German people them- 
selves, or any other nation, are to be deterred from following 
the footsteps of Prussia; if mankind is to be lifted out of the 
belief that war for selfish ends is legitimate to any state; if the 
old era is to be left behind and nations, as well as individuals, 
are to be brought beneath the reign of law ; even if there is to 
be early reconciliation and appeasement, it will be because those 
responsible for concluding the war have had the courage to see 
that justice is not defeated for the sake of a convenient peace. 

"It is said that the German revolution ought to make a dif- 
ference and that the German people are not responsible for the 
policy of the rulers whom they have thrown from power. The 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 367 

Allied and Associated Powers recognize and welcome the 
change. It represents a great hope for peace and a new Euro- 
pean order in the future. 

"But it cannot affect the settlement of the war itself. The 
German revolution was stayed until the German armies had 
been defeated in the field, and all hope of profiting by a war of 
conquest had vanished. Throughout the war as before the war, 
the German people and their representatives supported the war, 
voted the credits, subscribed to the war loans, obeyed every 
order, however savage, of their government. They shared the 
responsibility for the policy of the government, for at any mo- 
ment, had ihej willed it, they could have reversed it. Had that 
policy succeeded, they would have acclaimed it with the same 
enthusiasm with which they welcomed the outbreak of the war. 
They cannot now pretend, having changed their rulers after the 
war was lost, that it is justice that they should escape the conse- 
quences of their deeds. 

"The Allied and Associated Powers, therefore, believe that 
the peace they have proposed is fundamentally a peace of jus* 
tice. They are no less certain that it is a peace of right on the 
terms agreed. There can be no doubt as to the intentions of the 
Allied and Associated Powers to base the settlement of Europe 
on the principle of freeing oppressed peoples and redrawing 
national boundaries as far as possible, in accordance with the 
will of the peoples concerned, while giving to each the facilities 
to live an independent national and economic life. 

"These intentions were made clear not only in President 
Wilson's address to Congress of Jan. 8, 1918, but in the prin- 
ciples of settlement enumerated in his subsequent addresses, 
which was the agreed basis of the peace. A memorandum on 
this point is attached to this letter." 

True to these principles, the Allied and Associated Powers 
had made Poland an independent state with "free and secure 
access to the sea," and Danzig a free city severed from Germany 
because in no other way was it possible to provide for that 
"free and secure access to the sea" which Germany had prom- 



S68 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

ised to concede. The German counter proposals conflicted with 
the agreed basis of peace. They required that great majorities 
of Polish populations he kept under German rule. They denied 
secure access to the sea to a nation of over twenty million people, 
whose nationals were in the majority all the way to the coast, 
and did, so in order to keep territorial connection between East 
and West Prussia, whose trade has always been mainly carried 
by sea. Whether upper Silesia should be part of Germany or 
Poland, the Allied and Associated Powers were willing should 
be decided by the vote of the people concerned. 

The Saar Basin terms were necessary to the general scheme 
of reparation, and to give Prance, immediate compensation for 
the wanton destruction of her northern coal fields. The colonies 
were not to be returned; there were to be no changes in the 
reparation terms ; nor was Germany to be admitted at once into 
the League of Nations. It was unreasonable "to expect the free 
nations of the world to sit down immediately in equal associa- 
tion with those by whom they have been so grievously wronged." 

The letter, and the memorandum attached, must be considered 
the last word of the Allied and Associated Powers. Therefore, 
they required the German delegation to declare, within seven 
days, whether they would, or would not, sign the treaty as 
amended. If they did not declare a willingness to sign, the 
armistice would end, and the Powers would take such steps as 
they thought "needful to force their terms." 

Members of the German Government having, again and 
again, declared that the treaty, even in its amended form, must 
not be signed, the Cabinet, on June 20, resigned in a body. A 
new Cabinet was at once put in office, a mere dummy govern- 
ment, it was believed, set up to carry through the 'signing of the 
treaty, and then be swept from office to make way for the very 
officials who had resigned rather than approve the signing. 

Meantime, preparations were under way in the occupied 
territory and bridgeheads for an immediate advance of the 
armies, should Germany fail to declare her intention to sign 
before seven o'clock on June 23, the end of the seven-day period. 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 369 

On Sunday, June 22, the J^ational Assembly, by a majority of 
ninety-nine, voted that the treaty be signed. Herr Bauer, the 
new premier, thereupon declared that the treaty would be signed 
without acknowledging the responsibility of the German people 
for the war, and without agreeing to the articles which required 
the extradition of certain German personages, and the trial of 
the former Emperor. 

The momentous question of signing the treaty having thus 
been settled, the new German Government at once requested an 
extension of the seven-day limit, and at three o'clock on Mon- 
day morning, June 23, a note from Dr. Haniel von Haim- 
hausen, of the peace delegation, was delivered to M. Clemenceau. 

The minister for foreign affairs instructs me to beg the Allied 
and Associated Governments to prolong for forty-eight hours the 
time limit for answering your excellency's note communicated yes- 
terday evening, and likewise the time limit for answering the note 
of June 16, 1919. 

It was only on Saturday, after great difficulties, that a new cabi- 
net was formed which, unlike its predecessor, could come to an 
agreement to declare its willingness to sign the treaty as regards' 
nearly all its provisions. The national Assembly has expressed its 
confidence in this cabinet by a large majority of votes. The answer 
only arrived here just before midnight, as the direct wire from 
Versailles to Weimar was out of order. 

The government must come into contact anew with the National 
Assembly in order to take the grievous decision which is still re- 
quired of it in such a manner as it can only be taken in accordance 
with democratic principles and with the internal situation in Ger- 
many. 

The Allied and Associated Governments, was the prompt 
reply, regret that it is not possible to extend the time within 
which "to make known your decision relative to the signature 
of the treaty, without any reservations." 

The German government thereupon declared its willingness 
to sign with certain reservations. It asserted that the condi- 
tions imposed were gi-eater than Germany could perform; pro- 
tested against the taking away of the colonies; declared it could 



370 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

not accept Article 230 requiring Germany to admit she was the 
sole author of the war, and did not cover the article by her 
signature; could not reconcile it with dignity and honor to 
execute articles 227 to 230, requiring Germany to give up for 
trial certain persons accused of committing acts contrary to the 
usages and customs of war, and proposed that : 

Within two years, counting from the day when the treaty is 
signed, the Allied and Associated Governments will submit the 
present treaty to the high council of the powers, as constituted by 
the League of Nations, according to Article 4, for the purpose of 
subsequent examination. Before this high council the German 
plenipotentiaries are to enjoy the same rights and privileges as the 
representatives of the other contracting powers of the present treaty. 
This council shall decide in regard to those conditions of the pres- 
ent treaty which impair the rights to self-determination of the 
German people and also in regard to the stipulation whereby the 
free economic development of Germany on a footing of equal rights 
is impeded. 

The government of the German public accordingly gives the dec- 
laration of its consent as required by the note of June 16, 1919, in 
the following form: 

"The government of the German republic is ready to sign the 
treaty of peace, without, however, recognizing thereby that the Ger- 
man people was the author of the war and without undertaking any 
responsibility for delivering persons in accordance with Articles 227 
to 230 of the treaty of peace." 

The Allied and Associated Powers, was the reply, find in the 
present note of the German delegation no arguments or con- 
siderations not already examined, and feel constrained to say 
that the time for discussion is past. They can accept no quali- 
fication or reservation and must require of the German repre- 
sentatives an unequivocal decision as to their purposes to sign 
and accept as a whole, or not to sign and accept the treaty as 
finally formulated, and after signature must hold Germany 
responsible for the execution of every stipulation of the treaty. 

And now, at last, Germany yielded, and late in the day von 



THE TREATY OF PEACE S71 

Haimliausen wrote tliat the Minister of Foreign Affairs had 
instructed him to say: 

It appears to the government of the German republic, m con- 
sternation at the last communication of the Allied and Associated 
Governments, that these Governments have decided to wrest from 
Germany by force acceptance of the peace conditions, even those, 
which, without presenting any material significance, aim at divest- 
ing the German people of their honor. 

No act of violence can touch the honor of the German people. 
The German people, after frightful suffering in these last years, 
have no means of defending themselves by external action. 

Yielding to superior force, and without renouncing in the mean- 
time its own view of the unheard of injustice of the peace conditions, 
the government of the German republic declares that it is ready to 
accept and sign the peace conditions imposed. 

iN'ews of the German acceptance of the treaty terms was 
received in London and Paris with manifestations of great joy. 
That the Germans would keep the treaty obligations was gen- 
erally doubted in Washington. They will sign, it was said, 
with their tongues in their cheeks, and their fingers crossed, and 
the whole world, for a long time to come, will have to stand 
guard against German treachery sure to be practised. Ko one 
supposes, for a minute, that the peace terms will be carried out 
in good faith, if the Germans can find a loophole for escape. 
They have submitted because of the helplessness to which the 
Allied armies have reduced them, and because longer delay 
would bring heavier conditions. Indeed, at the very time these 
expressions of distrust were made, a fine example of German 
treachery was afforded by the sinking of the German war ships 
at Scapa Flow. As required by the armistice, ten battleships, 
six battle cruisers, eight light cruisers and fifty destroyers were 
interned with skeleton crews of Germans as caretakers, and no 
British guards aboard. Suddenly, about noon on June 21, the 
crews began to leave them, and one by one battleships, cruisers 
and destroyers keeled over and sank, until but one battleship,* 
two light cruisers and eighteen destroyers remained, most of 



372 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

these beeched by tugs. Kear Admiral von Keuter, in obedience 
to orders given him that no German armed vessel should be 
surrendered, had ordered the seacocks opened, supposing that 
the armistice had ended. 

By the terms of the peace treaty, Germany was to restore all 
flags taken from the French in 1870 and 1871. To prevent the 
fulfillment of this provision the battle flags in Berlin were 
removed from the place where they were kept and burned in 
public. These acts of treachery brought from M. Clemenceau 
a long note to the German peace delegation. He called atten- 
tion to Article 23 of the armistice terms, which reads: "The 
German surface warships which shall be specified by the allies 
and the United States shall forthwith be disarmed and there- 
after interned in neutral ports, or, failing them, in the allied 
ports designated by the Allies and the United States. They 
shall there remain under supervision by the Allies and the 
United States, only care and maintenance parties being left on 
board"; claimed that Germany, by signing the terms, entered 
into an undertaking that the ships handed over by her should 
remain in the ports indicated by the Allied and Associated 
Powers, and that care and maintenance parties should be left 
on board with such instructions and under such orders as would 
ensure that the armistice should be observed ; and charged that 
the "sinking of these ships, instead of their preservation, as had 
been provided for, and in breach of the undertaking embodied 
in Article 31 of the armistice against all acts of destruction, 
constituted at once a violation of the armistice, the destruction 
of the pledge handed over, and an act of gross bad faith toward 
the Allied and Associated Powers." 

The German admiral in command of the care and mainte- 
nance parties, while recognizing that the act was a breach of 
the armistice, had attempted to justify it by alleging his belief 
that the armistice had come to an end. This alleged justifica- 
tion was not well founded, as, under the communication ad- 
dressed to the Geiman delegation by the Allied and Associated 
Powers on the 16th of June, 1919, the armistice would only 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 373 

terminate on refusal to sign the peace or if no answer were 
returned on tlie 23d of June at 11 o'clock." In international 
law, "particularly in articles 40 and 41 of the regulations 
annexed to the fourth Hague convention of 1907, every serious 
violation of the armistice by one of the parties gives the other 
party the right to denounce it and even in case of urgency to 
recommence hostilities at once." 

A violation of the terms of the armistice by individuals, acting 
on their own initiative, only confers the right of demanding the 
punishment of these offenders and, if necessary, indemnity for the 
losses sustained. It will therefore be open to the Allied and Asso- 
ciated Powers to bring before a military tribunal, the persons re- 
sponsible for these acts of destruction, so that the appropriate pen- 
alties may be imposed. Furthermore, the incident gives the Allied 
and Associated Powers a right to reparation for the loss caused and' 
in consequence a right to proceed to such further measures as the 
said powers may deem appropriate. 

Lastly, the sinking of the German fleet is not only a violation of 
the armistice, but can only be regarded by the Allied and Asso- 
ciated Powers as a deliberate breach in advance of the conditions 
communicated to Germany, and now accepted by her. ' 

Furthermore, the incident is not an isolated act. The burning 
or permission for the burning of the French flags which Germany 
was to restore constitutes another deliberate breach in advance of 
these same conditions. 

In consequence, the Allied and Associated Powers declare, that 
they take note of these signal acts of bad faith, and that when the 
investigations into all the circumstances have been completed, they 
will exact the necessary reparation. It is evident that any repeti- 
tion of acts like these must have a very unfortunate effect upon the 
future operation of the treaty which the Germans are about to sign. 
They have made complaint of the fifteen years' period of occupa- 
tion which the treaty contemplates. They have made complaint that 
admission to the League of Nations may be too long deferred. How 
can Germany put forward such claims if she encourages, or permits, 
deliberate violations of her written engagements? She cannot com- 
plain should the allies use the full powers conferred on them by the 
treaty, particularly Article 429, if she, on her side, deliberately 
violates its provisions. 



S74> THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

June 28, tlie fifth anniversary of tiie murder of the Archduke 
Franz Ferdinand and his morganatic wife at S.erajevo, was the 
day chosen for the signing of the treaty. The place was the 
famous Hall of Mirrors, in the Chateau at Versailles, where, 
forty-eight years before, the Franco-Prussian peace treaty was 
signed and Frederick William proclaimed Emperor of Ger- 
many. !N'or was this event suffered to go unnoticed, for six 
senators who had fought in that war were especially invited to 
be present. According to the program of cereraionies, the Ger- 
man delegation was to enter the Hall by a door other than that 
to be used by the representatives of the Allied and Associated 
Powers. Against this Haniel von Haimhausen protested. 
"We cannot admit," he said, "that the German delegates should 
enter the Hall by a different door than the Entente delegates ; 
nor that military honors should be withheld. Had we known 
there would be such arrangements the delegates would not have 
come." It was finally settled that military honors should be 
paid the Germans as they left the Hall. A few minutes after 
three o'clock Dr. Hermann Mueller, the German Secretary for 
Foreign Affairs, and Dr. Johannes Bell, the Colonial Secretary, 
were shown into the Hall, and having taken their seats at the 
long horseshoe-shaped table, M. Clemenceau rose and said: 
"The session is open. The Allied and Associated Powers on 
the one side, and the German Reich on the other, have come to 
an agreement on the terms of peace. The treaty has been com- 
pletely drafted, and the President of the Conference has stated, 
in writing, that the text now about to be signed is identical with 
the two hundred copies that have been delivered to the German 
delegation. The signatures will now be affixed, and they con- 
stitute a solemn pledge, faithfully and loyally to carry out the 
conditions embodied in this treaty of peace. I now invite the 
delegates of the German Reich to sign the treaty." 

After a few moments' pause, the master of ceremonies es- 
corted them to the table whereon lay the treaty, and they affixed 
their names. President Wilson and the American delegates 
were the next to sign. Then came Lloyd George and the British 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 375 

delegates, and then the representatives of the British Domin- 
ions. When those from South Africa were about to sign, 
General Jan Christian Smuts announced that he did so under 
protest, and filed a document setting forth that in some respects 
the treaty was unsatisfactory. M. Clemenceau and the French 
delegates were the next to sign; then came the Japanese, then 
the Italians, and after them the delegates from the small Powers. 
The seats assigned the Chinese delegates were vacant ; they did 
not attend because of the provisions in the treaty regarding the 
peninsula of Shantung. At a quarter before four o'clock all 
was over, and the Germans left the Hall. 

My fellow countrymen [said President Wilson in an address to 
the People of the United States] : The Treaty of Peace has been 
signed. If it is ratified and acted upon in full and sincere execution 
of its terms, it will furnish the charter for a new order of affairs 
in the world. It is a severe treaty in the duties and penalties it 
imposes upon Germany, but it is severe only because great wrongs 
done by Germany are to be righted and repaired; it imposes nothing 
that Germany cannot do, and she can regain her rightful standing 
in the world by the prompt and honorable fulfillment of its terms^ 

And it is much more than a treaty of peace with Germany. It^ 
liberates great peoples who have never before been able to find the 
way to liberty. It ends, once for all, an old and intolerable order, 
under which small groups of selfish men could use the peoples of 
great empires to serve their ambition for power and dominion. It 
associates the free governments of the world in a permanent league, 
in which they are pledged to use their united power to maintain peace 
by maintaining right and justice. It makes international law a 
reality, supported by imperative sanctions. It does away with the 
right of conquest, and rejects the policy of annexation, and substi- 
tutes a new order under which backward nations, populations which 
have not yet come to political consciousness, and peoples who are 
ready for independence, but not yet quite prepared to dispense with 
protection and guidance, shall no more be subjected to the domina- 
tion and exploitation of a stronger nation, but shall be put under 
the friendly direction, and afforded the helpful assistance of govern- 
ments which undertake to be responsible to the opinion of mankind 
in the execution of their task by accepting the direction of the 
League of Nations. 



376 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

It recognizes the inalienable rights of nationality, the rights of 
minorities, and the sanctity of religious belief and practice. It 
lays the basis for conventions which shall free the commercial inter- 
course of the world from unjust and vexatious restrictions, and for 
every sort of international cooperation that will serve to cleanse 
the life of the world, and facilitate its common action in beneficent 
service of every kind. It furnishes guarantees such as were never 
given, or even contemplated, for the fair treatment of all who labor 
at the daily tasks of the world. 

It is for this reason that I have spoken of it as a great charter 
for a new order of affairs. There is ground here for deep satisfaction, 
universal reassurance, and confident hope. 

His work done, the President, on the evening of the 28th, 
left for Brest to board the George Washington waiting to carry 
him home. Before leaving Paris he bade a formal farewell to 
France : 

As I look back over the eventful months I have spent in France 
my memory is not of conferences and hard work alone, but also of 
innumerable acts of generosity and friendship which have made me 
feel how genuine the sentiments of France are toward the people 
of America, and how fortunate I have been to be the representative 
of our people in the midst of a nation which knows how to show us 
kindness with so much charm, and so much open manifestation of 
what is in its heart. 

Deeply happy as I am at the prospects of joining my own country- 
men again, I leave France with genuine regret, my deep sympathy 
for her people, and belief in her future confirmed; my thought en- 
larged by the privilege of association with her public men, conscious 
of more than one affectionate friendship formed, and profoundly 
grateful for unstinted hospitality, and for countless kindnesses 
which have made me feel welcome and at home. 

I take the liberty of biddiug France godspeed as well as good-by, 
and of expressing once more my abiding interest and entire confi- 
dence in her future. 

That same day King George sent a message to the President 
saying : 

In this glorious hour, when the long struggle of nations for right, 
justice and freedom is at last crowned by a triumphant peace, I 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 377 

greet you, Mr, President, and the great American people in the 
name of the British nation. 

At a time when fortune seemed to frown, and the issues of the 
war trembled in the balance, the American people stretched out the 
hand of fellowship to those who on this side of the ocean were 
battling for a righteous cause. Light and hope at once shone brighter 
in our hearts, and a new day dawned. 

Together we have fought to a happy end, together we lay down 
our arms in proud consciousness of valiant deeds nobly done. 

Mr. President, it is on this day one of our happiest thoughts that 
the American and British people, brothers in arms, will continue 
forever to be brothers in peace. United before by language, tradi- 
tions, kinship, and ideals, there has been set upon our fellowship 
the sacred seal of common sacrifice. 



CHAPTEK IX 

THE TEEATY REJECTED 

Though the treaty was signed and ratified by Germany, no 
official copy had been seen by the public. Again and again 
attempts were made to secure one. The French Parliamentary 
Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the French budget com- 
mittee had each requested copies from M. Clemenceau, but the 
Premier had firmly refused to send them. Meantime the Ger- 
mans were spreading printed copies broadcast, and giving this 
as a reason the French Chamber of Deputies called for the 
treaty and were informed that the request could not be granted. 
Thereupon a Paris journal, Bon Soir, secured six hundred 
copies of the book from Switzerland, and presented them to 
the Chamber, whose authorities posted a notice informing 
members that each could obtain one at the questor's office, as 
a present from Bon Soir. Copies found their way from Den- 
mark to private parties in New York, and were seen by Sena- 
tors. Mr. Lodge stated on the floor of the Senate that when 
in New York he had in his hand, and looked over for an hour 
and a half, a copy of the treaty, and heard of the existence in 
that city of three more. Senator Borah said they were in the 
possession of certain interests particularly concerned in the 
treaty. Here was a matter to be investigated. How did they 
get their copies? Who gave them out? Had our representa- 
tives in Paris allowed interests in New York to secure them 
for their own selfish uses ? 

A resolution was accordingly introduced, and adopted unani- 
mously without a roll call. It set forth that Mr. Borah, the 
Senator from Idaho, has stated in the Senate that certain 
interests in New York City have secured copies of the peace 

378 



THE TREATY REJECTED 379 

treaty with Germany, while the American people have not been 
able to procure one ; that the Senator from Massachusetts, Mr. 
Lodge, has stated in the Senate that he knew of four copies 
in JSTew York; that the only place where it is not allowed to 
come is the United States Senate; and that the Senator from 
Idaho has stated that the interests in possession of copies are 
particularly interested in the treaty. Therefore, the Commit- 
tee on Foreign Relations is directed to investigate and report 
to the Senate the names of the persons, corporations, or inter- 
ests, which have secured copies of the treaty, from whom and 
by what means they were secured, and to what extent the 
interests are particularly concerned in the treaty. By another 
resolution the Secretary of State was requested to furnish the 
full text of the document, if not incompatible with the public 
interest. 

A few days later Senator Borah rose in the Senate and said 
that he had in his possession a copy of the treaty; that he was 
about to ask permission of the Senate to print it as a Senate 
document; that he was permitted to offer it by the consent of 
those who gave it to him; that the particular copy he was offer-' 
ing was brought to this country by a staff correspondent of 
the Chicago Tribune^ and was delivered to him as a member of 
the Committee on Foreign Relations. He entertained no doubt 
that it was a true and correct copy, and asked unanimous consent 
that it be printed as a Senate document. 

Unanimous consent having been refused, the Senator moved 
that the document be printed in the Record. A hot debate 
followed; but the motion was carried by forty-seven yeas to 
twenty-four nays. Nine Democrats voted for printing; one 
Republican voted against it. A motion to reconsider was soon 
made and the debate was renewed more hotly than before. In 
the midst of it Senator Borah, having obtained the floor, said 
that the authenticity of his copy had been questioned. There- 
fore he would prove it genuine by reading it. A storm of 
opposition arose at once from Democratic Senators. It was 
contrary to all precedent to present a treaty in open session; 



380 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

it was a confidential document to read which was contrary to 
the Senate rules; he was exceeding his right by speaking too 
often on the same subject. To read it would require some fif- 
teen hours; nevertheless the Senator began, and had gone on 
for an hour when the party leaders, having secured unanimous 
consent to interrupt the reading and come to a vote, it was 
taken. The yeas were forty-two, the nays twenty-four. The 
motion to reconsider was lost; the treaty was rushed to the 
Government printing office, and the next day, June 10, it 
appeared in the Congressional Record, and the important news- 
papers of the country. 

That same day Senator Knox offered a resolution intended 
to serve notice on the Peace Conference that the Senate would 
not ratify the treaty if it contained the Covenant of the League 
of l^ations. The treaty, the resolution set forth, might easily be 
so drawn as to permit the making of immediate peace, leaving 
for later determination the establishment of a League of ISTa- 
tions. The treaty, as drawn, contained "principles, g-uarantees 
and undertakings obliterative of legitimate race and national 
aspirations, oppressive of weak nations and peoples," and de- 
structive of human progress and liberty. Therefore the Senate 
would regard as fully adequate to our national needs, to the 
obligations we owed to our co-belligerents, and to humanity, 
a treaty which assured to the people of the United States "the 
attainment of those ends for which we entered the war," and 
would "look with disfavor upon all treaty provisions going 
beyond those ends." 

The Constitution provides the only ways in which it may 
be amended. Amendment by treaty is not one of these ways, 
therefore the treaty making power "has no authority to make 
a treaty which in effect amends the Constitution of the United 
States," and the Senate "cannot advise and consent to any 
treaty provision which would have such effect if enforced ;" but 
does advise that "the paramount duty of the Peace Conference" 
is quickly to bring peace to all the belligerents; that to this 
end the treaty shall be so drawn as to reserve to any nation, 



THE TREATY REJECTED 381 

for future separate consideration by its people, the question of 
any League of ISTations; "that neither such an article nor the 
exercise of the rights reserved thereunder" shall at any time 
"affect the substance of the obligations of Germany and its 
co-belligerents under the treaty," and that, until the United 
States shall enter the League, the "indispensable participation 
by the United States in matters covered by the League Cove- 
nant" shall be through diplomatic conmiissions. 

Finally, it shall be the declared policy of our government 
that "the freedom and peace of Europe being again theatened 
by any power or combination of powers, the United States will 
•regard such a situation with grave concern as a menace to its 
own peace and freedom," and, if necessary, will cooperate with 
our chief co-belligerents for the defense of civilization. 

The resolution was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations, and with the last paragraph, declaring the policy 
of the government towards peace in Europe stricken out, was 
reported back to the Senate. 

That the resolution would never be passed was certain. All 
that could be hoped was to obtain enough votes in its favor to' 
show that at least one-third of the Senate was firmly opposed 
to joining the Covenant of the League of ITations with the 
treaty. By the end of a fortnight even this seemed doubtful 
and the resolution was never brought to a test vote. 

As the prospect of failure to secure even on&-third of the 
Senators in support of the resolution grew darker each day, 
Mr. Lodge, in hope of checking the waning support of the 
Republicans, made public a letter from Mr. Elihu Root. He 
would be glad, Mr. Root said, to see the Covenant of the League 
of ISTations separated from the terms of the treaty of peace. 
If this could not be, then the Senate ought to include in its 
resolution of consent such reservations and understandings as 
would remedy the defects he pointed out. The defects were 
serious. Nothing had been done by the revisionists for the 
re-establishment of arbitration of questions of legal right; nor 
for the revision or development of international law; nor to 



382 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

limit tiie vast and incalculable obligations imposed by Article 
X. The clause regarding the Monroe Doctrine was erroneous 
in its description and ambiguous in its meaning. The clause 
authorizing withdrawal from the League after two years' notice 
might make it possible for the Council on "a mere charge that 
we had not performed some international obligation" to take 
jurisdiction "of the charge as a disputed question and keep us 
in the League indefinitely against our will." 

Mr. Root suggested as reservations and understandings to be 
made a part of the instrument of ratification, that the Senate 
in advising and consenting to the ratification of the treaty 
exclude from its consent Article X of the League of JSTations ; 
that in giving its consent the Senate should do so with the 
understanding that whenever two years' notice of withdrawal 
shall have been given, "no claim, charge or finding" that inter- 
national obligations under the Covenant have not been fulfilled, 
will be deemed to render the notice ineffectual, or keep in the 
League the power giving the notice after the lapse of the speci- 
fied time ; and that, as the United States, in joining the League 
of N^ations is moved by no wish to meddle with the political 
policy of any foreign State, and by no existing or expected 
danger in the affairs of the American Continents, "but accedes 
to the wish of the European States that it shall join its power 
to theirs for the preservation of general peace," the Senate 
consents to the ratification of the treaty, save Article X, with 
the understanding that nothing therein contained shall be con- 
strued to imply the relinquishment by the United States of 
America in its traditional attitude towards purely American 
questions, or to require the submission of its policy regarding 
questions which it deems to be purely American questions, to 
the decision or recommendation of other powers. 

Aiter the treaty was ratified with the reservations and under- 
standings suggested, Mr. Root thought the Senate should adopt 
a resolution asking the President to open negotiations with the 
other powers for the reestablishment and strengthening of a 
system of arbitration of disputes on questions of legal right, 



THE TREATY REJECTED 383 

and for meetings, from time to time, of representatives of the 
powers for the revision and development of international law. 

Inclusion of these reservations and understandings in the 
instrument of ratification would not require further negotia- 
tion. If none of the other signatories expressly objected, the 
treaty stood as limited. 

Four courses of action now lay before the Senate. Reject 
the treaty, an act which nobody expected would be perpetrated. 
Follow the advice of Senator Knox and separate the Covenant 
from the treaty. Ratify the treaty with reservations as sug- 
gested by Mr. Root. Ratify the treaty as it stood. Of the 
ninety-six Senators some forty-three were for the Covenant with 
reservations, and some forty for the Covenant without reserva- 
tions. Eight were against the Covenant in any form. The 
rest were in doubt. The Republicans had a majority of two 
votes, but were divided in opinion, without leadership, and with- 
out a party policy. If, as some held, the resolution to ratify 
could be amended, and the reservations added, by a majority 
vote, the Republicans could carry their reservations by a united 
party vote. Could they be united ? If, as others held, a two- 
thirds vote was necessary to amend, because that vote was 
necessary to pass the resolution to ratify, even a united Repub- 
lican party could do nothing without the aid of Democratic 
Senators. Would they accept the Republican reservations? 
^Neither with nor without reservations could the treaty be rati- 
fied without votes from both parties. 

Such was the situation when the President reached 'New 
York on July 8, and two days later laid the treaty before the 
Senate and made an address. He would not, he said, attempt 
to explain the questions which arose during the conference, 
but report to Congress the part played by himself and his col- 
leagues as representatives of the government of the United 
States. That part was determined by the role we had played, 
and by the expectations aroused in the minds of the peoples 
with whom we had been associated in the great war. We en- 
tered it, not because our material interests were threatened, not 



S84. THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

because of any special treaty obligations, but because we saw 
the supremacy of right everywhere put in jeopardy, and free 
governments theatened by the aggression of a Power which 
respected neither right nor obligation. We entered the war as 
the champion of right, and were concerned in the peace terms 
in no other capacity. 

When our soldiers, he said, began to pour across the sea, the 
hopes of the Allied nations were at a low ebb. Save in their 
stoutest spirits there was everywhere a sombre foreboding of 
disaster. Senators had only to recall what the Allies feared in 
mid-summer of 1918, and what "our timely aid accomplished 
alike for their morale and their physical safety. That first, 
never-to-be-forgotten action at Chateau-Thierry had already 
taken place. Our redoubtable soldiers and marines had already 
closed the gap the enemy had succeeded in opening for their 
advance upon Paris, had already turned the tide of battle back 
towards the frontiers of France, and begun the rout that was to 
save Europe and the World. 

"Thereafter the Germans were to be always forced back, 
back, and never to thrust successfully forward again. And yet 
there was no confident hope." The men and women who came 
to the celebration of July 4th, 1918, in Paris, came with no 
heart for festivity. They came out of courtesy, but they went 
away with something new in their hearts. The sight of our 
men, of their stalwart vigor, their confidence, their swinging 
march, made all who saw them realize that something that was 
no mere incident had happened. "A great moral force had 
flung itself into the struggle." These soldiers were crusaders, 
and as their numbers "swelled into millions their strength was 
seen to mean salvation." They were for all "the visible em- 
bodiment of America. What they did made America, and all 
that she stood for, a living reality in the thoughts, not only 
of the people of France, but also of tens of millions of men and 
women throughout all the toiling nations of a world standing 
in peril of its freedom." 

"And the compulsion of what they stood for was upon us 



THE TREATY REJECTED 385 

who represented America at the peace tahle." It was the duty 
of those who represented Ajnerica to realize the hopes of the 
nations brought by our assistance to their freedom. Old en- 
tanglements, promises made by one government to another in 
the old days when might and right were confused, stood in the 
way. It was not easy to graft the new order of ideas on the 
old. "The atmosphere in which the conference worked seemed 
created not by the ambitions of strong governments, but by tlie 
hopes and aspirations of small nations, and of people hitherto 
held under bondage to the power that victory had shattered and 
destroyed." "There could be no peace until the whole order 
of Central Europe had been set right." This meant that new 
nations, Poland, Czecho-Slovakia, Hungary, must be created; 
that a new Roumania as well as a new Slavic state clustering 
about Serbia must be made at the peace table. The German 
Colonies were to be disposed of; they had been exploited, but 
never governed. The Turkish Empire had a part, and its peo- 
ples cried out for release from unspeakable distress, "for all 
that the new day of hope seemed at last to bring within its 
dawn." These were not tasks the conference looked about to 
find, and went out of its way to perform. They were thrust, 
upon it by the war, and were not to be accomplished by pre- 
scribing in a treaty what should be done. A league of free 
nations became a practical necessity. Statesmen of all belliger- 
ent countries agreed that such a league must be formed to 
sustain the settlements they were to effect. As the task of 
adjusting the world's affairs progressed from day to day, it 
became evident that what they sought would be little better 
than something written on paper, if they did not create a means 
of common counsel which all must accept, a common authority 
which all must respect. 

The fact that the Covenant of the League was the first part 
of the treaty worked out, made all the rest easier. The Con- 
ference was not to be ephemeral. The concert of nations was 
to go on under a covenant which all had agreed on ; the League 
of l^J'ations was the practical statesman's hope of success. The 



386 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

League "was not merely an instrument to adjust and remedy 
old wrongs under a new treaty of peace, it was the only hope of 
mankind. Again and again had the demon of war been cast 
out of the house of the peoples, and the house swept clear by 
a treaty of peace, only to prepare a time when he would enter 
it again with spirits worse than himself. The house must now 
be given a tenant who could hold it against all sucb." 

Convenient as the statesmen found the League to be for carry- 
ing out their plans of peace and reparation, they saw in it, 
before their work was done, the hope of the world, and did not 
dare to disappoint that hope. "Shall we or any other free 
people besit^ate to accept this great duty? Dare we reject it, 
and break the heart of the world ?" 

Our entrance into the war established our position among 
the nations. "IN'othing but our own mistaken action can alter 
it." It is not by accident, or by a "sudden choice that we are 
no longer isolated and devoted to a policy whicb has only our 
own interests and advantage for its object. It is our duty to 
go in, if we are indeed the champions of liberty and right." 
"The stage," tbe President concluded, "is set, the destiny dis- 
closed. It has come about by no plan of our conceiving, but 
by the band of God, who led us into this war. We cannot turn 
back. We can only go forward, with lifted eyes and freshened 
spirits to follow the vision. It was of this that we dreamed 
at our birth. America shall in truth show the way. The light 
streams upon the path ahead, and nowhere else." 

No sooner had the President left the Senate chamber, than 
tbe treaty was referred to the Committee on Foreign Eelations, 
and in a few minutes was on its way to the public printer. In 
the course of a few days tbe Committee reported, and the Sen- 
ate adopted three resolutions. One called for a copy of a treaty, 
said to have been made by Germany and Japan in October, 
1918, which bound the two Powers to enter into a separate 
peace, pledged Japan to help Germany to secure commercial 
advantages in Russia, and share with Germany the interests 
of Japan in the Shantung peninsula. Another asked the Presi- 



THE TREATY REJECTED S87 

dent to send a copy of any protest filed by members or officials 
of the American peace commission against the Shantung award. 
The third called for copies of all drafts of proposed league 
covenants, reports of arguments relative to the League, and of 
all papers vs^hich in any way had to do with the treaty of peace. 

Attack upon the treaty was now shunted from the Covenant 
to Shantung, and the opponents fell upon the provisions giving 
the control of that peninsula to Japan. 

Because of the killing of two German missionaries in China, 
the German Government in 1897 seized the port of Tsingtao 
in the bay of Kiaochau, forced the Manchu Government in 1898 
to lease the port to Germany for ninety-nine years, obtained 
railway and mining rights in the Province of Shantung, and 
the right of passage for troops in a zone around the bay of 
Kiaochau. Germany might build two railroads, one of which, 
some two hundred and fifty miles long, was to extend from 
Tsingtao to Tsinanfu, and she might work mines within ten 
miles of the railroads. 

When Japan, in 1914, entered the war and attacked Kiao- 
chau, China marked out a war zone; but after the Germans 
surrendered the zone was abolishad. Japan thereupon made 
twenty-one demands on China, some of which related to Kiao- 
chau, and finally arranged the treaty of May, 1915, by which 
China agTeed to recognize any settlement Japan might make 
with Germany, when peace was concluded, concerning the rights 
and concessions Germany possessed in Shantung. 

February 3, 1917, our diplomatic relations with Germany 
were severed, and the President invited all neutral nations to 
follow our example. China was the first to do so. But, be- 
tween the day when she broke with Germany and the day when 
she declared war. Great Britain, France, Italy and Russia by 
a secret agreement with Japan promised, when peace was made, 
to support her claims to the privileges which Germany held in 
Shantung, provided Japan used her influence to persuade China 
to enter the war on the side of the Allies. When, at last, China 
declared war, she at the same time announced that all treaties 



388 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

with her enemies were thereby abrogated, and so put an end 
to that which granted Germany privileges in Shantung. Never- 
theless, when Italy withdrew from the Peace Conference be- 
cause of the Fiume incident, when it seemed likely China might 
withdraw because of the Shantung claims of Japan, and the 
League of Nations fail, President Wilson felt compelled to 
side with Great Britain, France and Italy, who stood by the 
secret agreement, and the privileges which Germany once held 
in the Shantung peninsula were transferred to Japan. 

It was to this transfer, this treatment of an ally, that Sena- 
tors were opposed. A great wrong, it was said, had been done 
China. She had been wheedled out of her territory at the peace 
table. Shantung was the price paid for Japan's acceptance 
of the League of Nations. The price paid for Great Britain's 
support of the claims of Japan, it was alleged, was the promise 
of Japan early in 1917 to support the claims of Great Britain 
to Pacific islands south of the equator. The price paid for the 
support of France was the pledge of Japan, early in 1917, to 
help draw China into the war that German ships in her ports 
might be interned and then requisitioned and placed at the 
disposal of the Allies, as had been done by Italy and Portugal. 
China came into the war, the ships were seized, and at the 
peace table the secret agreements were made good. '^'In all 
the annals of history," said a Senator, "I do not believe there 
is recorded a more disgraceful and dishonorable agreement to 
carve up the territory, not of an enemy, but of an allied friend. 
And if we approve this wicked decree, is it any defence to say 
that we were the only member of the court that was not 
bribed?" 

Japan, said another Senator, is building up a vast power in 
China, and we are helping her to do it. England had stood 
by and looked on while Germany took Schleswig-Holstein from 
Denmark, destroyed Austria and made it a vassal state, and 
wrecked France in 1870. England gave Heligoland to Ger- 
many, and had been paying the bills for these awful mistakes 
during the last four years. "There is another great Power 



THE TREATY REJECTED 389 

being built up on the other side of the ocean, and we who are 
not a party to any secret treaty, an independent nation with no 
personal ends to serve, are asked to put our approval at the 
bottom of that treaty which provides for the robbing of China, 
handing over this great province to the control of Japan." He, 
for one, did not want to see his country's name at the bottom 
of any document of that sort. 

That the President would, or could, send the papers, and 
documents, and stenographic reports demanded by the Senate 
was generally doubted, nor was the doubt lessened when he 
began inviting Republican Senators to come to the executive 
office at various times to discuss with him the provisions of the 
treaty of peace and the League of Nations. By some the action 
of the President was viewed as an attempt to win over members 
of the opposition who seemed inclined to favor the treaty and 
the League. Others looked on it as a sensible proceeding, for 
not only could he impart information not to be found in any 
document, but he could hear from the Senators the reasons for 
their firm determination that reservations must be made, and 
just what those reservations must be. 

Ignoring the radical Republican leaders of the opposition,, 
the President began by inviting Senators whose opposition was- 
milder, men in what he was said to have called "the twilight 
zone of the opposition." On such information as could be 
gathered concerning these interviews the President was reported 
to have no objections to "interpretations" if they did not change 
the terms of the treaty, no objection to the Senate stating in 
the resolution of ratification just what the United States under- 
stood to be the meaning of certain provisions in the treaty, but 
was opposed to any amendment that would send it back to the 
Peace Conference. It was reported that he had decided to 
make an explanation of the Shantung settlement ; that he would 
not consent to the cutting out of Article X, because it did not 
take from Congress the right to decide whether the country 
should, or should not, be plunged into war ; that he had assured 
his associates at the Peace Conference that he could not bind 



390 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

the country to make war. On another day the President told 
the "twilight zoners" who came on invitation that the Shantung 
question was referred to him by the Conference, and that he 
recommended that the secret agreement made with Japan be 
carried out. The President, however, in an official statement 
issued at the White House, denied that he had originated the 
settlement. "The President," so ran the statement, "author- 
izes the announcement that the statement carried in several of 
the papers this morning (July 23), that he originated or formu- 
lated the provisions with regard to Shantung in the treaty of 
peace with Germany, is altogether false. He exerted all the 
influence he was at liberty to exercise in the circumstances to 
obtain a modification of them, and believed that the ultimate 
action of Japan, with regard to Shantung, will put the whole 
matter in its true light." 

And now Mr. Taft, in a letter to the chairman of the Repub- 
lican JsTational Committee, proposed six reservations "with the 
hope that they will suggest a basis of agreement between the 
Democrats and sufficient Republicans to ratify the treaty and 
secure us the inestimable benefit of a League of Nations." The 
proposed interpretations were: 

That after two years' notice the United States could vdth- 
draw from the League without having it pass on the question 
whether she had, or had not, fulfilled ^all .her obligations under 
the Covenant. 

That self-governing colonies and dominions be not repre- 
sented on the Council at the same time with the mother govern- 
ment. 

That the action of the Council under Article X be advisory 
only, that each member be free to decide questions of war in 
its own way, and that the decision of the United States rest 
with Congress. 

That differences between nations regarding immigration, the 
tariff and other domestic issues be not left with the League 
for settlement. 



THE TREATY REJECTED 391 

That the Monroe Doctrine is reserved for administration by 
the United States. 

That the United States reserves the right to withdraw, uncon- 
ditionally, after two years, or at least end its obligations under 
Article X. 

The letter Mr. Taft now declared in a message to the Asso- 
ciated Press was "personal and confidential," and was published 
without the knowledge of the chairman of the J^ational Com- 
mittee, or himself. 

Senator Hale, of Maine, having written to Mr. Hughes for 
a statement of such reservations as, in his opinion, would safe- 
guard the interests of the country, Mr. Hughes suggested four. 
When a Power gave notice of its intention to quit the League 
it should cease to be a member at the time specified in the 
notice, but should not be released from any debts or liabilities 
theretofore contracted. 

Questions solely within domestic jurisdiction should not be 
subject to consideration or action by the League. 

Our attitude towards purely American questions should not 
be abandoned, should not be subject to jurisdiction by the 
League. We should be free to oppose acquisition of territory, 
in the western hemisphere by any non-American Power. 

The United States should assume no obligations, under 
Article X, to use its forces on land or sea, or fit out military 
expeditions, unless such action was authorized by Congress. 

Opposition Senators now found fault with the President 
because he had not submitted to the Senate the Anglo-American- 
French treaty. That such a compact for the defense of France 
from German aggression was in existence had long been known. 
The text of the treaty had been published in the Paris Figaro 
of July 3rd, in the London Times of July 4, and in Harvey s 
Weekly, a 'New York periodical. The President in his address 
to the Senate when presenting the treaty of Versailles said: 
"I shall presently have occasion to lay before you a special 
treaty with France whose object is the temporary protection 
of France from unprovoked aggression by the power with whom 



592 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

this treaty of peace has been negotiated. Its terms link it with 
this treaty. I take the liberty, however, of reserving it because 
of its importance for special explication on another occasion." 
An article in the French treaty provided that it should be 
"submitted to the Senate of the United States at the same time 
as the treaty of Versailles." This the President did not do. 
Therefore, in the opinion of the opposition Senators, he had 
violated the article in question, and what was almost as bad, 
he had not submitted it at all, though two weeks had passed 
since he laid before the Senate the treaty of Versailles. Be- 
cause of these things Senator Lodge moved that the President 
be requested to transmit the proposed treaty with France to 
the end that the Senate might consider it "in connection with 
the treaty of peace with Germany." 

The motion was laid over, but a few days later the President 
sent the document and said the object of the treaty "is to pro- 
vide for immediate military assistance to France by the United 
States, in case of any unprovoked movement of aggression 
against her by Germany, without waiting for the advice of the 
Council of the League of ISTations that such action will be 
taken." He was moved to sign it by considerations which he 
hoped would seem as persuasive, as irresistible to the Senate 
as they did to him. We are bound to France by sacred ties 
of friendship. She had helped us win our freedom. It might 
well be doubted if we could have won it without her timely aid. 
Kecently we had assisted in driving her enemies, who were also 
enemies of the world, from her soil. But this did not pay our 
debt to her, a debt nothing could pay. N'ow she wished us 
to promise to help defend her against the Power she had most 
reason to fear. Another great nation had volunteered the same 
promise, and it was "one of the fine reversals of history that 
the other nation should be the very Power with whom France 
fought to set us free." 

The treaty consisted of a long preamble and four articles. 
The first called attention to Articles 42, 43 and 44 of the treaty 
of Versailles, articles which had to do with fortifications on 



THE TREATY REJECTED 393 

tlie left bank of the Rhine, and provided that "in case these 
stipulations did not assure immediately to France appropriate 
security and protection," the United States "shall be bound 
to come immediately to her aid in case of any unprovoked act 
of aggression directed against her by Germany." The second 
set forth that the treaty would not be in force until a similar 
one between France and Great Britain was ratified. The third 
required that the treaty be laid before, and recognized by, the 
Council of the Society of ISTations and should remain in force 
until, on demand of one of the parties to it, the Council, by a 
majority if occasion arise, decided that the League of Nations 
assures ample protection. 

After a delay of nearly a month the President answered the 
calls of the Committee on Foreign Relations for papers and 
documents. He had been asked for all drafts of plans for a 
League of l^ations laid before the Conference, and especially 
for that prepared by the commissioners of the United States. 
The President now replied that he had no such drafts save that 
of the United States, and this he sent. He had been asked for 
all proceedings, arguments, debates, transcripts of the steno- 
graphic reports of the Peace Commission, relating to the 
League of l^ations, and all data bearing on the treaty of peace. 
No stenographic reports of debates, the President replied, 
were taken. Such memoranda as were made, it was agreed, 
should be confidential. 

The President now answered the calls of the Senate for pa- 
pers and documents. To the first resolution asking for a copy of 
a treaty said to have been concluded between Germany and 
Japan, for any information regarding it, in the possession of 
the Department of State, and for information concerning any 
negotiations between Germany and Japan during the war, the 
President answered that he knew of no such negotiations. 

By the second resolution request was made for a copy of any 
letter, or written protest, by the members of the American 
Peace Commission, or any officials attached thereto against the 
Shantung settlement, and especially a copy of a letter written 



394 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

by General Tasker H. Bliss on behalf of himself, the Secretary 
of State, and Henry White, members of the peace commission, 
protesting against the provisions of the treaty with reference 
to Shantung. General Bliss, was the reply, did write a letter 
in which he took strong grounds against the proposed Shantung 
settlement, and his objections were concurred in by the Secre- 
tary of State and Mr. White. But the letter was not a protest, 
because it was written before the decision was reached, and 
because it was in response to a request for their opinions. It 
could not be sent to the Senate because references were made 
to other Governments, quite proper in a confidential letter, but 
not to be repeated "outside our personal and intimate exchange 
of views." !No protest from any official had been received. 
To the request for any memorandum or information regarding 
an attempt of Japan or her Peace Delegates to intimidate the 
representatives of China, the President was happy to say that 
he had no such memorandum or information. 

The positions of the President and the Senators may now 
be briefly stated. President Wilson was against any reserva- 
tions likely to cause changes in the text. The majority of the 
Committee was for a direct amendment on the Shantung award, 
and for putting in the resolution of ratification such changes 
as they proposed to make in the Covenant of the League of 
^Nations. Senator Lodge and the extremists wished the reserva- 
tions made subject to the approval of the four principal allied 
Powers. The mild reservationists denied that the changes they 
had in mind would send the treaty back to the signatory Powers. 
Senator Hitchcock demanded that the treaty be reported to the 
Senate by the Committee and promptly ratified. It had, he 
said, been presented to the Senate July 10. Five weeks had 
passed with nothing done, vdth no vote taken. The Senate 
was waiting, the country was waiting, and impatience was in- 
creasing. Everybody knew that enemies of the treaty and 
opponents of the League of ^Nations controlled the Committee. 
Everybody knew they did not control the Senate. It was of 
little importance what the Committee did, if it only did some- 



THE TREATY REJECTED 895 

thing. Should it recommend amendments, the Senate would 
reject them. Should it mutilate the treaty, the Senate would 
repair the damage. 

In hope of reaching some sort of understanding the Presi- 
dent invited the Committee to a conference at the White House, 
on the morning of August 19. He began loj urging a speedy 
ratification because problems in the readjustment of our na- 
tional life were pressing for solution, and could not be solved 
until the country knew what sort of a peace it was to have. 
The copper mines of Montana and Alaska were kept in opera- 
tion only at a great loss. The zinc mines of Missouri, Ten- 
nessee and Wisconsin were working to about one-half their 
capacity. The lead of Idaho, Illinois and Missouri reached but 
a part of their old market. There was an immediate need for 
cotton belting and lubricating oil, which could not be met, all 
because the channels of trade were barred by war when there 
was no war. Hardly a single raw material, hardly a single 
class of manufactured goods, but was affected in the same way. 
Our military plans, our national budget waited on peace. 
Kations which ratified ,the treaty, such as Great Britain, Bel- 
gium, France, would control the markets of Central Europe- 
if we did not act quickly. We had no consuls, no trade repre-^ 
sentatives to look after our interests. 

ISTothing, the President believed, stood in the way of ratifica- 
tion save certain doubts as to the meaning of certain articles 
in the Covenant of the League of ]N"ations. He respectfully 
submitted that there was nothing doubtful in their wording. 
The Monroe Doctrine was expressly mentioned as in no way 
impaired. The words "regional understandings like the Mon- 
roe Doctrine" were used because it seemed "best to avoid the 
appearance of dealing with the policy of a single nation. Abso- 
lutely nothing is concealed in the phrase." Domestic questions 
were not enumerated because to do so, "even by sample, would 
have involved the danger of seeming to exclude those not men- 
tioned." The right to withdraw hud been taken for granted. 
Article X was in no respect doubtful, if read in the light of 



S96 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

the Covenant as a whole. Nothing could have been made clearer 
to the Conference than the right of Congress to decide on mat- 
ters of war or peace. Under Article X the United States did 
indeed undertake to "respect and preserve as against external 
aggression the territorial integrity and existing political inde- 
pendence of all members of the League." "But it is a moral, 
not a legal, obligation, and leaves Congress absolutely free to 
put its own interpretation upon it in all cases that call for 
action." 

The President closed his remarks with a statement of his 
attitude towards interpretations and reservations. "It has," 
he said, "several times been suggested, in public debate and in 
private conference, that interpretations of the sense in which 
the United States accepts the engagements of the Covenant 
should be embodied in the instrument of ratification." There 
could be no reasonable objection to such interpretations accom- 
panying the act of ratification provided they did not form a 
part of the formal ratification itself. Most of the interpreta- 
tions which had been suggested to him embodied what seemed 
the plain meaning of the instrument itself. 

But if such interpretations should constitute a part of the 
formal resolution of ratification, long delays would be the 
inevitable result, because all the many Governments concerned 
would have to accept, in effect, the language of the Senate as 
the language of the treaty before ratification would be com- 
plete. The assent of the German Assembly at Weimar would 
have to be obtained, and he must frankly say that he could 
"only with the greatest reluctance approach that Assembly for 
permission to read the treaty as we understand it, and as those 
who framed it quite certainly understood. If the United 
States were to qualify the document in any way, moreover, I 
am confident from what I know of the many conferences and 
debates which accompanied the formulation of the treaty that 
our example would immediately be followed in many quarters, 
in some instances with very serious reservations, and that the 



THE TREATY REJECTED 397 

meaning and operative force of the treaty would presently be 
clouded from one end of its clauses to the other." 

The President having finished, three hours were spent by 
the Senators asking questions and the President answering 
them. When the questioning was over each side claimed the 
victory. The Democrats held that the frankness of the Presi- 
dent had disarmed his opponents and left them nothing to do 
but ratify. The Kepublicans asserted that he had not been 
frank, had concealed all that happened at the meetings of the 
Council of Five, because to divulge their proceedings would 
be open to serious objections, and that they were confirmed in 
their opinions, and justified in their opposition to the treaty 
and the Covenant. "In our opinion," said Senators Borah and 
Johnson, in a statement issued in behalf of themselves and 
others, "the significant facts developed by the interview with 
the President to-day are these :" 

"1. There yet remain treaties of peace to be made with Aus- 
tria, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. Those 
treaties deal with subjects as important, territory as extensive, 
and matters as intimately affecting the United States as the 
treaty with Germany. The obligations of the United States, , 
therefore — what our country assumes in the future — cannot be^ 
determined until these treaties are completed and presented 
to the United States Senate. 

"2. That the President regards the obligations which will 
be assumed under the League of Nations, and particularly 
under Article X and XI, as moral obligations. These, how- 
ever, are of 'compelling' force and would require action upon 
our part. For instance, the President conceded that in an 
undoubted case of aggression from the Balkans upon the newly 
acquired territory of Italy, it would be our duty to come to the 
assistance of Italy and prevent such aggression. The Presi- 
dent's construction of Article X is at variance with the con- 
struction of the Democratic attorneys of the Senate. 

"3. A moral obligation, the President insists, rests upon us 
to carry out the tenns of the various treaties of peace. This 



398 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

moral obligation, the President states, requires us under tlie 
German treaty for fifteen years to maintain American troops 
in France. 

"4. The President did not know, nor had he heard of the 
secret treaties for territorial acquisition and partitioning 
various territories until he reached Paris. Specifically, he had 
not heard of and did not know, until he went to Paris : 

"A. Of the Treaty of London, or the basis on which Italy 
entered the war in 1915. 

"B. Of the agreement with Rumania of August, 1916. 

"C. Of the various agreements in respect to Asia Minor. 

"D. Of the agreements consummated in the winter of 1917 
between France and Russia, relative to the frontiers of Ger- 
many, and particularly in relation to the Saar Valley and the 
left bank of the Rhine. 

"E. Of the agreements between Japan, England, France and 
Italy by which Shantung substantially was given to Japan. 

"The United States was neither officially nor non-officially 
informed of any of these treaties or agreements, nor was any 
request made by the United States for information submitted to 
any of the allied Governments. 

"5. The President opposed the Shantung decision. It was 
officially conveyed to him that the Japanese would not sign 
unless the Shantung rights were given to Japan. The United 
States experts advised the President that Japan's verbal prom- 
ise to return the sovereignty of the territory in Shantung, while 
retaining the economic concessions, was a return of the shell 
of the nut by Japan while she retained the kernel. The Chinese 
insisted the retention of the economic privileges meant practi- 
cal sovereignty, but the President says he disagrees with this 
view. 

"6. England, France and Italy adhered at the Peace Con- 
ference to their secret treaties disposing of peoples and terri- 
tories in the Shantung case; therefore, the President was the 
only disinterested judge. The decision, however, was made 
unanimously. 



THE TREATY REJECTED 399 

"7. The United States asked China to enter the war. 

"8. The American commission at Paris urged that a definite 
sum of reparations be fixed in the treaty. Why this view did 
not prevail, the President felt he could not state without 
di^oilging matters respecting other Governments he felt he 
should not divulge. 

"9. The President felt that he could not divulge the details 
of what transpired in the meeting of the commissioners, and 
could not, therefore, afford information respecting these mat- 
ters. Por this reason, he could not divulge the vote upon racial 
equality, nor how the United States commissioners voted. 

"We very greatly appreciated the opportunity of talking 
with the President personally upon what we deem the most 
important subject which has come to the people since the civil 
war. We appreciate this opportunity the more because upon 
the facts developed, as stated by us, the position we have main- 
tained in respect to this Covenant of the League of Nations 
is justified and confirmed. 

"It is obvious that, if we are to assume only a moral obliga- 
tion, that moral obligation will deal at the instance of foreign 
nations with American treasure and American blood, and send 
American troops, whenever necessity arises, throughout the 
world. 

"It is equally plain that the decisions of the Peace Con- 
ference, made in accordance with secret treaties concealed from 
us, we must guarantee indefinitely. 

"The League of T^ations as construed by the President leaves 
it clear and unmistakable that when we enter it we are under 
compelling moral obligation, to say nothing of the legal obliga- 
tion which other supporters contend we are under, to take part 
in the disturbances, the conflicts, settlements and the wars of 
Europe and Asia, if any should arise, and it is equally true, 
under his construction, Europe would necessarily be under the 
same impelling force to take part in the settlement of Ameri- 
can affairs." 

Before the conference broke up to attend a luncheon given 



400 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

by tlie President, Senator Fall presented twenty written ques- 
tions which he asked the President to answer at some future 
time. The day after the conference Senator Pittman, a Demo- 
crat, offered four interpretive reservations in hope of meeting 
Republican objections to the Covenant. When a government 
served the two years' notice of withdrawal from the League, 
it should be the sole judge as to whether or not its obligations 
had been fulfilled. That suggestions of the Council under 
Article X as to the use of military force or economical meas- 
ures could only be carried out by the voluntary separate action 
of each member of the League, and failure of any member to 
adopt the suggestions, or provide military or naval forces, or 
economic measures, should be a moral or legal violation. 
Domestic and political questions relating to the internal affairs 
of a League member, immigration, coastwise traffic, the tariff 
and commerce, were solely within the jurisdiction of such mem- 
ber and not subject to arbitration, or consideration of the 
Council or Assembly. If a dispute arose over a matter other 
than those specified as domestic issues and exempt, and one 
party claimed it to be a domestic and political question relating 
to internal affairs, then the Council should make no recom- 
mendation save by the unanimous vote of the Council other 
than the representatives of the disputants. !No question which 
involved or depended on the Monroe Doctrine should ever be 
submitted to arbitration or inquiry by the Council, or As- 
sembly. 

These reservations were introduced without the knowledge 
of the President, and, disowned by him, were dropped by the 
Democrats, and served but to increase the determination of the 
Republicans, strengthened by the Conference at the White 
House, to have nothing but "strong amendatory reservations." 

The first fruit of this determination was the adoption by 
the Committee on Foreign Relations, of an amendment which 
deprived Japan of the German rights in the Shantung penin- 
sula and awarded them to China. Then came another striking 
from the treaty the words "and associated" wherever they 



THE TREATY REJECTED 401 

occur in the treaty in the phrase "Allied and Associated 
Powers," "which was used some thirty-five times. The effect 
was to cut out the "associated Power," that is to say the United 
States. One exception was made, that of American member- 
ship on the Reparations Conmiissions. All other commissions, 
that on the Belgian boundary, on the frontiers of Poland, and 
of East Prussia, on Danzig, on the Saar Basin, on the Schles- 
wig-Holstein boundary, on the enforcement of military and 
naval and air provisions, the United States was to have no 
representative, for these commissions, it was said, were to 
deal with matters which were no concern of ours. 

A third amendment, adopted a few days later, provided that 
whenever a matter referred to the Assembly involves a dis- 
pute between two members of the League, one of which has 
self-governing dominions, colonies, or part of empire also rep- 
resented in the Assembly, "neither the disputant member," 
nor any of its dominions, colonies or parts of empires "shall 
have a vote on any phase of the question." This was a blow 
at Great Britain, who, with her self-governing dominions, 
colonies, and India, a part of her empire, had six votes. A 
fourth amendment gave to the United States as many votes in 
the Council, or Assembly, as the aggregate vote of any member 
of the League and its self-governing dominions, colonies and 
parts of empire, also members of the League. That is to say, 
the United States should have as many votes as Great Britain. 
A fifth amendment deprived the representative of the United 
States on the reparations committee of a right to vote on gen- 
eral questions, and limited it to those on which he had been 
specifically instructed, and to those concerning international 
shipping. 

September fourth the Committee at last voted to report the 
treaty with four reservations and thirty-eight direct amend- 
ments. The resolution of ratification set forth "that the Senate 
advise and consent to the ratification of a treaty of peace with 
Germany, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the United States 
and Germany, and by the plenipotentiaries of the twenty-seven 



402 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Allied and Associated Powers, at Versailles, on June 23, 1919, 
with ttie following reservations and understandings to he made 
a part and a condition of such ratification, which ratification 
is not to take effect, or bind the United States, until the said 
following reservations and understandings have been accepted 
as a part and a condition of said instrument of ratification 
by at least three of the four principal Allied and Associated 
Powers, to wit: Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan: 

"1. The United States reserves to itself the unconditional 
right to withdraw from the League of Nations upon the notice 
provided in Article 1 of said Treaty of Peace with Germany. 

"2. That the United States, declines to assume, under the 
provisions of Article X, or under any other article, any obliga- 
tion to preserve the territorial integrity or political independ- 
ence of any other country or to interfere in controversies be^ 
tween other nations members of the League or not, or to employ 
the military or naval forces of the United States in such 
controversies, or to adopt economic measures for the prot-ection 
of any other country, whether a member of the League or not, 
against external aggression or for the purpose of coercing any 
other country, or for the purpose of intervention in the internal 
conflicts or the controversies which may arise in any other 
country, and no mandate shall be accepted by the United States 
under Article XXII, Part 1, of the Treaty of Peace with Ger- 
many, except by action of the Congress of the United States. 

"3. The United States reserves to itself, exclusively, the 
right to decide what questions are within its domestic juris- 
diction and declares that all domestic and political questions 
relating to its affairs, including immigration, coastwise traffic, 
the tariff, commerce, and all other domestic questions, are 
solely within the jurisdiction of the United States and are not 
under this treaty submitted in any way either to arbitration, 
or to the consideration of the council or of the assembly of the 
League of ISTations, or to the decision or recommendation of 
any other power. 

"4, The United States declines to submit for arbitration 



THE TREATY REJECTED 403 

or inquiry by tlie assembly or tbe council of the League of 
l!^ationSj provided for in said Treaty of Peace, any questions 
which in the judgment of the United States depend upon or 
relate to its long established policy, commonly known as the 
Monroe Doctrine ; said Doctrine to be interpreted by the United 
States alone and is hereby declared to be wholly outside the 
jurisdiction of said League of l^ations and entirely unaffected 
by any provision contained in the said Treaty of Peace with 
Germany." 

These were the reservations. The direct amendments were 
that giving the United States six votes in the Council and in 
the Assembly; that excluding the United States from repre- 
sentation on all commissions save that on reparations, which 
would have to do with the indemnities Germany must pay and 
with commerce with Germany; the Shantung amendment; and 
that to prevent nations concerned in any dispute before the 
League from taking part in the consideration of its settlement, 
and those striking out the words "and associated." 

September 4 the committee ordered the treaty with the 
reservations and amendments to be reported to the Senate. The 
majority report began with a reply to the charge of slowness 
of action; asserted that the "demand for haste" was "largely^ 
the work of the administration and its newspaper organs and 
was so far artificial;" that "artificial also was the demand for 
haste disseminated by certain great banking firms which had 
a direct pecuniary interest in securing an early opportunity to 
reap the harvest which they expected from the adjustment of 
the financial obligations of the countries which had been engaged 
in the war;" and that "the third element in the demand for 
haste was furnished by the unthinking outcry of many excellent 
people who desired early action, and who for the most part 
had never read the treaty, or never got beyond the words 'league 
of nations,' which they believed means the establishment of 
eternal peace." The responsibility of the Senate was equal to 
that of the Executive "who, although aided by a force of thir- 
teen hundred assistants, expert and otherwise, consumed six 



404 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

months in making it, and the Senate and its committee on 
foreign relations cannot dispose of this momentous document 
with the light-hearted indifference desired by those who were 
pressing for hasty and thoughtless action upon it." 

Complaint was made that the committee was hampered by 
the impossibility of getting information to which it was en- 
titled; that the clamor for speedy action was directed against 
the Senate and its committee; that although the treaty is to 
go into effect when ratified by Germany and three of the great 
Powers, Great Britain alone had acted. "Persons afflicted 
with inquiring minds have wondered not a little that the dis- 
tressed mourners over delays in the Senate have not also 
aimed their criticism at the like short-comings on the part of 
France, Italy and Japan." 

To the argument that prompt ratification was necessary in 
order to renew trade with Germany, the answer was made 
that the emptiness of this plea for haste "is shown by the fact 
that we have been trading with Germany ever since the armi- 
stice," and that "between that event and the end of July we 
have exported to Germany goods valued at" more than twelve 
million dollars. 

Coming to the amendments, the report set forth that the 
purpose of the first was to give the United States a vote in 
the Assembly equal to that of any other Power; that "amend- 
ments thirty-nine to forty-four inclusive, transfer to China the 
German lease and rights, if they exist, in the Chinese province 
of Shantung, which are given by the treaty to Japan." The 
majority of the committee were unwilling to have their votes 
recorded in favor of the consummation of a great wrong. The 
other amendments were dismissed in a few words and the four 
reservations were explained. The second, concerning Article 
X "is intended to meet the most vital objection to the league 
covenant as it stands." Under no circumstances must there be 
any moral or legal obligation on the United States to enter 
into war or send its army or navy abroad, or without the un- 
fettered action of Congress. "No American soldiers or sailors 



THE TREATY REJECTED 405 

must be sent to fight in other lands at the bidding of a league 
of nations." 

The fourth reservation is intended to preserve the Monroe 
Doctrine from interpretation by foreign powers. "As the 
Monroe Doctrine has protected the United States, so" the com- 
mittee believed "will this reservation protect the Monroe Doc- 
trine from the destruction by which it is threatened by Article 
XXI." 

The committee believed that the covenant of the League of 
ISTations is an alliance, not a league, that as it stands it will 
breed wars instead of securing peace; that it demands sacri- 
fices of American independence and sovereignty that would in 
no way promote the world's peace, and "are fraught with the 
gravest dangers to the future safety and well being of the 
United States." 

The committee had frequently heard it said "that the United 
States ^must' do this and do that in regard to this league of 
nations and the terms of the German peace. There is no 
'must' about it. 'Must' is not a word to be used by foreign 
nations or domestic officials to the American people or their 
representatives." !N^or was the attempt to frighten the unthink- 
ing by suggesting that if the Senate adopted amendments or 
reservations the United States would be shut out of the League. 
That would never happen. The nations of the World well 
knew that no threat of retaliation was possible with us, because 
we asked nothing and received nothing, no guarantee, no terri- 
tory, no commercial benefits, no advantages. Other nations 
would take us on our own terms, for without us their league 
would "be a wreck and all their gains from a victorious peace 
imperiled." 

While the Committee was still considering the amendments 
and reservations, the President, early in September, left Wash- 
ington on a tour of the West, to explain and defend the treaty 
and the Covenant before the people. His route led to Colum- 
bus, Ohio, where the first speech was made; then to Indian- 
apolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Des Moines, Omaha and Sioux 



406 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Falls ; to Minneapolis and St. Paul and Bismarck, to Billings, 
Helena, Coenr d'Alene, Spokane, Tacoma and Seattle, where 
the President reviewed the Pacific fleet. There the route 
turned southward to Portland, San Francisco, San Diego, and 
Los Angeles, where it turned eastward to Reno, Salt Lake 
City, Cheyenne, Denver and Puehlo. At Wichita, worn out 
by mental and physical strain, the President was forced to 
abandon the trip, and return to Washington. He was "suffer- 
ing from nervous exhaustion," his physician announced, and 
must "have rest and quiet for a considerable time." 

The first speech was given up to explaining the intent and 
meaning of the treaty, and to a justification of many of its im- 
portant articles. The terms, he admitted, were severe, but not 
unjust. 'No indenmity of any sort was claimed, merely repara- 
tion, merely pay for the destruction done, merely a making 
good by Germany of the losses she had wantonly inflicted, not 
on goverimients, but on the peoples whose rights she had trodden 
upon without even the semblance of pity. No national tri- 
umph was recorded in the treaty, no glory was sought for any 
particular nation. The treaty was intended to end the war 
and prevent any similar war. That was what the League of 
[Nations was for, and it was the only thing that could do it. 
Redemption of weak nations, Hungary, the Jugo-Slavs, Bo- 
hemia, Poland, the Slavic people down in the great Balkan 
peninsula, was another thing accomplished by the treaty which 
destroyed old alliances, old balances of power, and recognized 
the right of these peoples to live their own lives under such 
governments as they themselves saw fit to establish. The heart 
of the treaty is not that it punishes Germany, but that it rights 
the age-long wrongs which characterized the history of Europe. 
The treaty is an attempt to right the history of Europe and, 
in his opinion, is a measurable success. He said measurable 
because it was difficult to draw international lines. There 
were regions where you could not draw a line and say "there 
are Slavs on this side and Italians on that." "When we came 
to draw the line between the Polish people and the German 



THE TREATY REJECTED 407 

people, not tlie line between Germany and Poland — there wasn't 
any Poland strictly speaking, — the line between the German 
people and the Polish people, there were dis.tricts like that 
upper part of Silesia, or rather the eastern part of Silesia, 
which is called 'Upper Silesia' because it is mountainous and 
the other part is not. High Silesia is chiefly Polish, and when 
we came to draw a line to represent Poland, it was necessary 
to include High Silesia, if we were really going to play fair, 
and make Poland up of the Polish peoples wherever we found 
them in sufficiently close neighborhood to one another." But 
it was not certain that Upper Silesia wanted to be part of 
Poland. Hence a referendum, a plebiscite was provided that 
the people might decide. "I even had to remind my Italian 
colleagTies that if they were going to claim every place where 
there was a large Italian population we would have to cede 
ISTew York to them because there are more Italians in 'New 
York than in any Italian city." 

The treaty moreover contained "a magna charta of labor, a 
thing unheard of until this interesting year of grace. There 
is a whole section of the treaty devoted to arrangements by 
which the interests of those who labor with their hands all over . 
the world, whether they be men or women or children, are all 
of them to be safeguarded." There were no annexations. 

At St. Louis the President pointed out that the treaty "is a 
charter and constitution of a new system for the world," that 
its essential object "is to establish the integrity of the weak peo- 
ples of the world," discussed the Shantung agreement and 
affirmed his belief that Japan would keep her promise. Arti- 
cle X, he said, "cuts at the very heart and is the only instru- 
ment that will cut to the very heart of the old system." We are 
partners with the rest of the world in respecting the territorial 
integrity and political independence of the others. They are 
all under solemn bond to respect those things and if they do 
not, the League* then advises what to do. Some one might say, 
"Suppose we are a party to a quarrel." He could not suppose 
such a thing because the United States is not going to disregard 



408 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

the territorial integi'ity or political independence of any coun- 
try. But suppose for the sake of argument we were. What 
the opponents of the article would then be afraid of is, that 
we would get into trouble. "If we are a party we are in 
trouble already. If we are not a party we control the advice 
of the council by our own vote." Opponents of the treaty 
held that we should either reject it, or make such changes as 
would render it necessary to reopen negotiations with Germany. 
"We cannot do the latter alone, and other nations will not join 
us in doing it. The only alternative is to reject the peace 
treaty and to do what some of our fellow countrymen have 
been advising us to do; stand alone in the world." The or- 
ganization contemplat-ed by the League of Nations without 
the United States would be an Alliance and not a League of 
^Nations, an alliance of the chief European powers and Japan. 
The United States would then be the disassociated party, stand- 
ing aloof, and to be watched by the Alliance. In that event, 
we must be physically ready for anything to come, must have 
a large standing army, must have every man trained to arms, 
must have munitions and guns enough, in short, must become 
a mobilized nation, and have that kind of organization which 
is necessary to handle such an army, a militaristic organiza- 
tion. You cannot, he said, handle an armed nation by vote. 
Speaking at Kansas City, the President said that to reject 
the treaty, to alter the treaty is to impair one of the first 
charters of mankind. Yet there were men who approached 
the question with passion, with private passion, with party 
passion, who thought only of immediate advantage to them- 
selves, or to a group of their fellow countrymen, who looked 
at the thing with the jaundiced eyes of those who have some 
purpose of their own. He did not mean those who had con- 
scientious objections. He took off his hat to such. He had 
no intolerant spirit in the matter, but from the bottom of his 
feet to the top of his head he had "a fighting spirit about it." 
Those who dared to defeat this great experiment must bring 
together the councillors of the world and do something better. 



THE TREATY REJECTED '409 

If there were a better scheme he would subscribe to it ; but he 
wished to say, as he had said before, that "it is a case of put 
up or shut up, i^egation will not save the world. Opposition 
constructs nothing. Opposition is the specialty of those who 
are bolshevistically inclined." He was not likening any of 
his respected colleagues to Bolshevists, but merely pointing out 
that the bolshevistic spirit lacked every element of construc- 
tive opposition. He had not come to fight or antagonize any 
individual or body of individuals. He had the greatest re- 
spect for the Senate of the United States, but he had come 
out to fight for a cause, and that cause was gTeater than the 
Senate, gi-eater than the Government, as gi'eat as the cause 
of mankind, and he intended "in office or out to fight that 
battle as long as" he lived. 

When Omaha was reached the President, who had hitherto 
been expounding the League of ITations and the treaty, turned 
to the reservations. "A reservation," he said, "is an assent 
with a 'but' to it. We agree, but." The first article of the 
Covenant provides, that a nation may withdraw from the 
League on two years' notice, if at the end of the two years, all 
its international obligations under the League have been ful- 
filled. "But some of our friends are very uneasy about that. 
They want to sit close to the door and with their hands on the 
knob, and they want to say, Ve are in this thing, but we are in 
it with infinite timidity, and we are in only because you over- 
persuaded us, and want us to come in, but we are going to 
sit here and try this door once in a while, and see it isn't 
locked, and just as soon as we see anything we don't like we 
are going to scuttle.' " What was the trouble ? Were they 
afraid that if the United States ever wished to withdraw it 
would not have fulfilled its obligations? Did they want him 
to ask the Germans if he might "read the treaty to them ex- 
pressed in the words the United States Senate thinks it ought 
to have been written in? So you see the reservations come 
down to this, that they want to change the language of the 
treaty without changing its meaning, and let me say there are 



410 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

indications, I am not judging from official dispatches but 
from the newspapers, that people are not in as good humor over 
in France now as they were when I was there, and it is going 
to be more difficult to get a new agreement from them than 
it was before." 

Concerning the Shantung agreement the President declared 
that he had frankly said to his Japanese colleagues that he was 
deeply dissatisfied with that part of the treaty. But Japan 
agreed "that she would relinquish every item of sovereignty 
that Germany had enjoyed in China, and would retain what 
other nations have elsewhere in China, certain economic con- 
cessions with regard to the railways and the mines." But sup- 
pose, as some had suggested, that we dissent from that clause 
of the treaty? "We cannot sign all of a treaty but one part. 
We caimot sign the treaty with the Shantung provision out of 
it, and if we could what sort of service would that be doing 
China ? 

At the Twin Cities there were three speeches. In the morn- 
ing the President addressed the Minnesota Legislature in Spe- 
cial session. In the afternoon he spoke to the people gathered 
in the Auditorium at St. Paul, and in the evening to a meeting 
in Minneapolis. Again he told of the old balance of power, 
and of people who nowhere dared speak out against autocracy ; 
how one object of the war was to destroy autocracy; how the 
League of Nations provided for the destruction of autocracy 
by admitting only self-governing nations to the League; how 
the treaty proposed to substitute arbitration and discussion for 
force, and an absolute boycott against covenant breakers; how 
the peace of the World was everybody's business; how the 
Covenant was the first international document to recognize that 
fact, and how it put an end to all secret treaties. They were, 
he said, a constant source of embarrassment at Versailles. 
Yet they were treaties, and the war having been fought on the 
principle of the sanctity of treaties, they had to be respected. 
As to ourselves, we must be either provincials or statesmen, 
ostriches or eagles. "I see gentlemen bury their heads in some* 



THE TREATY REJECTED 411 

thing and think that nobody sees that they have submerged 
their thinking apparatus. That is what I mean by being an 
ostrich. JSTow what I mean by being an eagle, I need not 
describe. I mean leaving the mists lying close to the ground, 
getting up on strong winds into those spaces where you can see 
all the affairs of mankind, all the affairs of America, seeing 
how the world appears." 

The Covenant of the League, the President told the people 
at Bismarck, had been greatly misrepresented. He did not 
recognize it when he heard some men talk about it. He had 
spent hours in the presence of the representatives of thirteen 
nations, examining every sentence, trying to keep out of it any- 
thing that infringed the sovereignty of any member of the 
League. When he went back in March, 1918, he took with 
him every suggestion made by the Senate Committee on For- 
eign Relations. All were accepted. Nevertheless, on his return 
he found he did not understand what the document means. 
Plain sentences written, as he thought, in unmistakable lan- 
guage, meant, he was told, something he never heard of, and 
that nobody else entertained as a purpose. Turning to Article 
X, he said, it had no operative force unless we voted that it- 
should have force. The first sentence provides that every mem- 
ber of the League shall respect and preserve the territorial 
integrity of every other member of the League. "The second 
sentence provides that in case of necessity the council shall take 
such steps as may be necessary to carry out the suggestions of 
the conference — that is to say, what force is necessary. ISTow 
the Council cannot give that advice without a unanimous vote. 
It can't give the advice without the affirmative vote of the 
United States, unless the United States is a party to the con- 
troversy in question." What did this mean? 

Did anybody think the United States was likely to seize 
somebody else's territory? And if she is not likely to begin 
aggTession, who is likely to begin it against her ? But sup- 
pose somebody does attempt to seize some of our country, or 
we somebody else's, then the war is ours anyway, so what dif- 



412 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

ference does it make what advice the Council gives? Unless 
it is our war we cannot be dragged into it without our consent. 
Whatever might be thought of Article X, it is the heart of the 
treaty. We must take it or throw the world back into the 
old contest over land titles. 

It was true, he said at Spokane, that under Article X, if the 
United States is a party to a dispute, it cannot vote. But in 
that case we had the fight on our hands anyhow, because, if 
we are one of the parties to the dispute the war belongs to us. 
Therefore, we cannot be forced into the war by the vote. The 
only thing the vote can do is to force us out of the war. And 
what was meant by the suggestion that the United States might 
be a party ? Party to what ? A party to seize somebody else's 
property, infringe the political independence of some other 
country? Ah! but somebody may seek to seize our territory, 
impair our political integrity. Well, who ? Who has an arm 
strong enough, who has an audacity great enough to try to 
take a single inch of American territory, or seek to interfere 
for one moment, with the political integrity of the United 
States? 

The President had no objections to interpretations if they 
did not change the meaning of the document, but that would 
be saying that th.e United States understood. the treaty to mean 
what it says. "You will say, why not go in with reservations ?" 
Because if textual changes were made, or the resolution of 
ratification qualified, the treaty must go back to the German 
Assembly at Weimar. We cannot, said he, put anything into 
the treaty which Germany has signed without her consent. But 
we might put interpretations on the treaty which its language 
clearly justified, and notify the other governments of the world 
that we so understood the treaty. Anything that qualifies the 
treaty, anything that is a condition of ratification will make 
its submission to the other Powers necessary and it must all 
be gone over again. 

Not one of the qualifications suggested for the Covenant was 
warranted. Under the withdrawal clause, the nation before 



THE TREATY REJECTED 413 

leaving must fulfill all the international obligations. Gentle- 
men objected that it is not said who shall determine whether 
or not the obligations have been fulfilled. Having sat at the 
table where the Covenant was drawn he knew that this was 
not accidental, for no nation could sit in judgment on another. 
It was left to the conscience of the withdrawing nation and to 
the only jury it had to fear, the great embodied jury express- 
ing the opinion of mankind. As to the proposed Monroe 
Doctrine reservation, the President said the Conference tried 
to define the doctrine as clearly as possible. That sentence, he 
believed, was the most extraordinary in the document, because 
up to that time not a nation in the World was willing to admit 
the Doctrine was valid. 

To the Women's League at San Francisco the President 
spoke concerning Shantung, and Article X, and the moral duty 
of our country to accept the treaty. In the matter of the 
cession to Japan of the interests of Germany in Shantung, he 
said to his Japanese colleagues, "I am not satisfied with this 
settlement. I think it ought to be different. But when gen- 
tlemen propose to cure it by striking that clause out of the 
treaty, or by ourselves withholding our adherence to the treaty,, 
they propose an irrational thing." But coupled with the^ 
Shantung arrangement, the President said, is the League of 
l^ations under which Japan solemnly undertakes with the rest 
of us to respect the territorial integrity of China, and back 
of her promise is that of every other member of the league. 
It is the first time in the history of the world that anything 
has been done for China. "And sitting around our Council 
board in Paris, I put this question: 'May I expect that this 
will be the beginning of the retrocession to China of the excep- 
tional rights which other governments have enjoyed?' And 
the responsible representatives of other great governments said : 
'Yes, you may expect it.' " 

Your attention, he continued, is constantly drawn to Article 
X. But there is also Article XI, which gives the right to every 
member of the league to draw attention to anything, anywhere, 



414 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

that is likely to disturb the peace of the world. Under this 
the representative of the United States has the right to stand 
up and say: "This is against the covenant of peace. It can't 
be done." And, if occasion arises, we may add, "It shall not 
be done." Kever before have weak, oppressed and wronged 
nations had a forum to which they could bring their enemies 
into the presence of the judgment of mankind. 

As the President came eastward from the Pacific coast he 
dwelt more and more on the reservations in general, and on that 
concerning Article X in particular. In the Mormon Taber- 
nacle at Salt Lake City he assured his hearers that reservations 
were the same thing as amendments. They would send the 
treaty back to Paris, and to reopen the treaty would be to 
reopen the issue with Germany. One by one, he said, the fears 
of the reservationists had been swept away. Doubt as to 
whether some superior power could supersede the Constitution 
had been removed. Doubt that the Covenant protected the 
Monroe Doctrine had been removed. The right to withdraw is 
plainly stated. Domestic questiolns are specifically exempt 
from action by the league. Driven from one point after an- 
other the forces of objection had been directed at the heart of 
the League, at Article X, under which the members agree to 
protect one another's territory from aggression. 

This, he told his audience at Cheyenne, cut at the tap root 
of war, because nearly all wars started from aggression. Were 
the reservation on this Article adopted the United States would 
assume no obligation to preserve the territorial rights of other 
nations unless Congress so decided. It would be saying we 
will not promise anything, but from time to time we may 
assist. It meant rejection of the treaty. Unless we went in 
now and assumed full responsibility, we would have to come 
in lat^r with Germany. Germany is not anxious for the 
United States to be among the nations of the League. It means 
a separate treaty with Germany and this would be against the 
United States. "The men who fought at Chateau-Thierry, the 
men who fought in Belleau Wood, and in the Argonne, never 



THE TREATY REJECTED 415 

thouglit of turning back. Thej never thought of making reser- 
vations on their service. They never thought of saying, 'We 
are going to do this much of the job, and then leave you to do 
the rest.' And I am here on this journey to do what I can to 
complete the task which the men who died upon the battle- 
fields of France began. And I am not going to turn back 
any more than they did. I am going to keep my face just as 
they kept theirs, forward, towards the enemy." 

At Denver, and again at Pueblo, the President had much to 
say on the objection that the British Empire had six votes in 
the Assembly and the United States but one. Those six votes, 
he said, "are not in the Council, they are in the Assembly, and 
the interesting thing is that the Assembly does not vote. I 
must modify that statement a little, but essentially it is abso- 
lutely true. In every matter in which the Assembly is given 
a vote (and there are only four or five) its vote does not count 
unless concurred in by all the representatives of all the nations 
represented on the Council, so there is no validity to the vote 
of the Assembly unless approved by the United States, so the 
vote of the United States is as big as the six votes of the British 
Empire." This was his last speech, for the next morning,- 
September 26th, at Wichita, the President was forced to aban- 
don his trip. 

The Senators meantime had been listening to the reading 
of the treaty, and early in October reached Article 35, which 
provides for a commission of seven persons to be appointed, 
five by "the Principal Allied and Associated Powers," one by 
Germany and one by Belgium, "to settle on the spot the new 
frontier" of Belgium. This was the first case to which the 
amendment of Senator Fall applied and by unanimous consent 
it was brought to a vote on October 3. The amendment was 
intended to deprive the United States of representation on 
some thirty-five commissions to be established under the treaty. 
The first amendment, depriving the United States of member- 
ship on a commission "to settle on the spot the new boundaries 
between Belgium and Germany" was voted down and two 



416 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

more, relating to our participation in the affairs of Luxem- 
"burg, were lost by a viva voce vote. Under the treaty the Com- 
mission for the government of the Saar Basin is to consist of 
"one citizen of France, one native inhabitant of the Saar Basin, 
not a citizen of Prance, and three members belonging to three 
countries other than France or Germany." Senator Fall pro- 
posed to add the name of the United States to the restriction 
"other than France or Germany," but this amendment also 
was lost. Twenty-six amendments excluding the United States 
from representation on commissions to settle on the spot the 
boundaries of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Upper Silesia, the Free 
City of Danzig, East Prussia, Denmark, and on many other 
matters were taken together and defeated by a viva voce vote. 
An amendment forbidding the United States to be a party to 
a treaty Czechoslovakia was pledged to make with the Allied 
and Associated Powers "to protect the interests of the inhabi- 
tants of that State who differ from the majority of the popu- 
lation in race, language or religion," and two amendments 
barring the United States from membership on an International 
Commission to control the plebiscite area of Upper Silesia, and 
preventing it sending troops to occupy that area, were lost by 
a vote of forty-six yeas to thirty-one nays, and an amendment 
preventing the United States from joining in a treaty binding 
Poland to protect the interests of her inhabitants who differed 
from the majority of the population in race, language or reli- 
gion, and another excluding our country from representation 
on a commission to govern the area of a plebiscite in East 
Prussia were each lost by a viva voce vote. 

Debating and speech making now went on for nearly a fort- 
night, before an agTeement was reached to come to a vote on 
the amendments offered by Senator Lodge relating to Shan- 
tung. They were six in number, were voted on as one and 
defeated. On the following day the two remaining amend- 
ments offered by Senator Fall were rejected without the for- 
mality of a roll call. The one deprived the United States of 
permanent membership on the Reparations Commission. The 



THE TREATY REJECTED 417 

otlier limited the American representative to voting only when 
instructed, except on matters concerning shipping. 

Reading the treaty article by article now continued to the 
end. By that time the Republican majority had ready a new 
set of reservations, which were reported as substitutes for those 
reported in September and were put to vote on October 22nd. 
They were thirteen in number. Three were passed over; but 
the first, often called the preamble, setting forth that the reser- 
vations would not go into force until accepted by three of the 
Principal Allied Powers, and ten of the reservations were 
agreed upon by the Committee. 

By the first, the United States was to be free to leave the 
League as provided in Article I, and free to decide whether 
her obligations had or had not been fully discharged. By the 
second the United States assumed no obligation to guarantee 
the territorial integrity or politioal independence "of any 
other country, or interfere in controversies between other na- 
tions, — whether members of the League or not" — unless Con- 
gress so ordered. The third left it with Congress to decide 
whether we would or would not become a mandatory over any 
nation. The fourth reserved absolute jurisdiction over do- 
mestic questions, and the fifth declared that questions under ^ 
the Monroe Doctrine were not to be submitted to arbitration, 
and that the United States is its sole interpreter. The sixth 
set forth that the United States did not assent to the Shantung 
award to Japan and reserved full liberty of withholding assent 
to the award as made under the treaty. The seventh was 
passed over for the moment. The eighth provided that the 
regulation of trade between Germany and the United States 
by the Reparations Commission must be subject to the approval 
ol Congress. The ninth gave Congress the right to decide 
whether the United States should contribute to the expenses of 
the Secretariat, or any members of the commissions created 
by the treaty. The tenth reserved to Congress the right to 
increase the armament of the United States when threatened 
with invasion, or engaged in waging war. The eleventh was 



418 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

laid aside. Article XVI of tlie Covenant provided that, should 
a member of the League break its covenants under Articles XII, 
XIII, and XVI, and wage war, all other members must pro- 
hibit "all intercourse between their nationals and the nationals 
of the covenant-breaking State." The twelfth reservation ap- 
plied to this Article and reserved to the United States the right 
to continue trade and financial relations and intercourse with 
the covenant-breaker. The thirteenth was passed over. 

Keservation seven, one of the three passed over, declared 
that Congress will provide for the appointment of representa- 
tives of the United States in the Assembly and the Council, of 
the League of Nations, and may at its discretion provide for 
the participation of the United States in any commission, com- 
mittee, tribunal, court, council or conference, or in the selec- 
tion of any members thereof, and that until such participation 
and appointment have been so provided for, and the powers 
and duties of such representative defined, no person shall repre- 
sent the United States under the League of Nations or the 
treaty, and no citizen shall be appointed a member of any 
commission, committee, court, council, or conference save with 
the approval of the Congress of the United States. 

Keservation eleven, also passed over, set forth that the United 
States understood subdivision C of Article XXIII, which gave 
the League general supervision over the execution of agree- 
ments concerning the trafiic in women and children, opium and 
dangerous drugs, to mean that the League shall refuse to recog- 
nize agreements relating to this trafiic and use every means in 
its powers to accomplish its abolition. 

Eeservation thirteen, the third to be passed over, declared 
that nothing in Articles 296 and 297 or the annexes thereto, or 
in any other part of the treaty, "shall, as against the citizens 
of the United States, be taken to mean any confirmation, rati- 
fication, or approval of any act illegal or in contravention of 
the rights of citizens of the United States." 

When the Committee met again these three were adopted, but 
reservation eleven was incorporated in number four, and num- 



THE TREATY REJECTED 419 

ber 13 thus became number 12. A thirteenth, stating that the 
United States declines to have any part or lot in the admin- 
istration of the colonies transferred by Germany to the Prin- 
cipal Allied and Associated Powers was then adopted, and 
Senator Lodge instructed to prepare a fourteenth withholding 
from decision by the League of ISTations any question affecting 
the vital rights and national honor of the United States. 

The triumph of the enemies of the covenant on the Commit- 
tee now seemed complete. Amendment had failed; but by 
reservations they had cut off the United States from all re- 
sponsibility under the treaty and under the Covenant of the 
League of ISTations. The treaty, it was said, will be Ameri- 
canized. That the reservations exactly as drafted will pass 
the Senate, is certain. Even the preamble will go through. 
The position of the President is indeed embarrassing. He 
must either accept the reservations, or bid his partisans join 
with the Eepublicans who are opposed to the treaty in any 
form, and defeat the resolution of ratification. In the first 
case he is brought to the humiliating situation of beholding his 
seven months' work in Paris go for naught. In the second 
case, he is forced to go, hat in hand, to Germany and ask for 
a separate treaty of peace, an exceedingly unpleasant thing to 
do. ISTevertheless, the decision as to the final vote rests with 
him. 

After a short delay the Johnson amendment to give to the 
United States a vote in the Assembly equal to that of any 
other Power was defeated by a vote of yeas thirty-eight, nays 
forty. Senator Johnson thereupon offered another, and the 
Republicans whose votes made possible the defeat of that 
reported by the Committee announced, that to hasten the rati- 
fication of the treaty they would vote against all amendments 
but not against effective reservations. They kept their word 
and two days later aided in defeating the last of the amend- 
ments from the Committee on Poreign Relations and three 
more offered by as many Senators. One providing for the 
insertion, in the preamble, of the words, "invoke the consider- 



420 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

ate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty 
God," was laid upon the table. Another was that offered by 
Senator Johnson after the defeat of his first amendment. The 
third provided that Great Britain, her colonies, dominions and 
parts of Empire should have collectively but one vote and three 
delegates in the Assembly. The Republicans were manifestly 
impatient of the delay and eager to reach the reservations. 

Abroad the debates in the Senate had been followed with 
deep interest, had been made the subject of comment by news- 
papers of influence, and brought from thirty-two professors of 
the University of Louvain an appeal to the American people. 
Belgium, they said, was following with anxiety the debates on 
the ratification of the treaty. The assistance lent by the 
United States in the war gave victory to the Entente. This 
help, moral, financial, military, was the magnificent expres- 
sion of the generosity and spiritual greatness of a great people. 
It was hard, therefore, for Belgium to understand how, after 
contributing so much to victory, our country could "think of 
compromising the great results that victory obtained." The 
peoples of the Entente were looking anxiously towards the 
United States Senate, and after sacrificing so many hopes, after 
giving up so many of the guarantees and reparations they had 
expected, they could not understand "this long hesitation, this 
tenacious opposition to the signing of the treaty." Should 
America refuse to ratify, the fruits of victory so dearly bought 
would be lost, all the restitutions and guarantees promised by 
Germany would be brought again under discussion, and the 
friendship, sealed on the battlefield, between the great Ajueri- 
can nation and the democratic Powers of the Entente, would 
inevitably be ended. Belgium, the country for which America 
made such splendid sacrifices, would be bitterly disappointed. 
Like most works of man, the treaty was undoubtedly defective. 
ISTevertheless, it was the best effort ever made to assure peace 
in the world. Belgium had undergone great trials. The 
treaty failed to realize not only her hopes, but even the promises 
made to her of complete restoration. Yet she "has not bar- 



THE TREATY REJECTED 421 

gained over the question of ratification/' and begged "her great 
American friend to take pity on the Old World and particu- 
larly on Belgium/' ratify the treaty of peace, and enable the 
Belgians "to return with energy to the labor of repairing their 
ruins." 

Towards the close of October the chairman of the Committee 
of Foreign Relations proposed that by unanimous consent the 
Senate come to a final vote on ratification on the twelfth of 
^November. When the proposal came up for consideration 
early in E^ovember, Senator Hitchcock, leader of the Demo- 
cratic minority, opposed it, and made a proposition of his own. 
He opposed because, if the Senate were bound to come to a 
vote on a certain day the majority might continue the debate 
up to that day, and so prevent the minority from having "a 
reasonable chance to make material changes in the reservations 
supported by the majority." His counter proposal was: 

That after unanimous consent was given the Senate should 
meet each day at eleven o'clock in the forenoon to consider the 
treaty, and all amendments, reservations, or resolutions of 
ratification that might be offered, and that no Senator should 
speak more than once, nor for more than fifteen minutes on 
any pending question. 

That during the calendar day of Monday, ^November third, 
before adjournment or recess, the Senate should vote on the 
pending amendments and on any others that might be offered. 

That during the calendar days of Tuesday and Wednesday, 
ISTovember fourth and fifth, the Senate, as in Committee of 
the Whole, should consider committee reservations and might 
continue to do so until three o'clock on the afternoon of Thurs- 
day, ICTovember sixth ; that before, or at that hour, a vote should 
be taken on the Committee reservations, and that the treaty 
should then be reported to the Senate by the Committee of 
the Whole. 

That in the Senate the vote on the resolution of ratification, 
embracing such reservations as had been adopted in Committee 



4-22 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

of the Whole, should be taken before adjournment, or recess, 
on the calendar day of ISTovember sixth. 

That if the treaty received the necessary two-thirds vote the 
President be notified at once. 

That if it did not receive the necessary two-thirds vote, the 
Senate, on Friday, ISTovember seventh, and on Saturday, ISTo- 
vember eighth, consider any resolution of ratification proposed 
by the minority of the Committee on Foreign Relations, and 
vote on it not later than three o'clock on the afternoon of 
November eighth. Should no such resolution receive the nec- 
essary two-thirds vote then, during the calendar day of ISTo- 
vember eighth, any Senator might offer a resolution of ratifica- 
tion which should be voted on without debate. If no such 
resolution received the necessary two-thirds vote, then it should 
be in order for any Senator to move to take up the railroad 
bill or any other business, and this question should be decided 
without discussion. 

ISTeither side would accept the proposal of the other; where- 
upon Senator Lodge, on ISTovember fourth, secured unanimous 
consent to vote on the remaining amendments the following 
day. Ho then offered an amendment to strike from the treaty 
the three articles relating to Shantung. It was voted down. 

On Wednesday, ^November fifth, accordingly, the La Follette 
amendment, striking from the treaty Part XIII, relating to 
Labor, was taken up and defeated. On Thursday the Gore 
amendment, providing that the United States should not make 
war until the question had been submitted to popular vote, was 
defeated, two others striking from the Covenant Articles X 
and XI, were withdrawn, and all proposed amendments hav- 
ing thus been swept aside, the way was prepared for considera- 
tion of the preamble to the resolution of ratification and the 
fifteen reservations reported by the Committee. 

Senator Lodge now moved consideration of the reservations; 
a debate arose, and in the course of it Senator Underwood 
argued that to consider the reservations before disposing of 
th.(i preamble was an unparliamentary proceeding. Mr. Lodge 



THE TREATY REJECTED 423 

then asked why the Senator did not request unanimous consent 
for a vote, at once, on unconditional ratification. He was will- 
ing, Mr. Underwood replied, to do so, but no sooner had he 
said this, than Senator Hitchcock, the minority leader, rose 
and protested. Mr. Underwood admitted he could not make 
such a proposal without consent of the Senator who had charge 
of the treaty for the minority, and asked him to make it. 
Senator Hitchcock agreed and after some discussion a proposal 
was read. "It is agreed by unanimous consent that the Senate 
immediately pass to the parliamentary stage of the Senate and 
shall vote upon the following resolution: 

"Resolved, two-thirds of the Senators present and voting, 
concurring therein, that the Senate advises and consents to 
the ratification of the Treaty of Peace with Germany signed 
at Versailles, France-, June 28, 1919. 

"And it is further agreed, that if the treaty shall fail of 
ratification it shall immediately pass to the parliamentary stage 
of the Committee of the Whole." 

Senators who were in the cloak room now hurried into the 
chamber, and the Secretary was about to call the roll when 
Senator Jones put an end to the whole proceeding by exclaim- 
ing, "I object." 

Unanimous consent having been refused, the Senate took 
up the reservations, beginning with the first or preamble, but 
no vote was reached that day. On Friday when it again came 
up, attempts were made to amend, to strike out the require- 
ments that written acceptances be obtained from three Powers ; 
to provide that acceptance of the reservations might be by an 
exchange of notes; and to strike out "three" in order that 
they must be accepted by the four Powers mentioned; but in 
the end the preamble was adopted without change by a vote of 
forty-eight yeas to forty nays. 

The withdrawal reservation came next ; but no vote was taken 
until Saturday, when, after efforts to substitute the word 
"joint" for "concurrent," and even to strike out all mention of 
a concurrent resolution, it was adopted as drafted by a vote of 



424, THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

fifty yeas to thirty-five nays. Friends of the President re- 
sented this action. A joint resolution must he suhmitted to 
the President; a concurrent resolution is not suhmitted. The 
retention of the word concurrent, therefore, his friends claimed, 
was a deliberate affront to the President by depriving him of 
his constitutional power to veto. Supporters of the resolution 
denied that it in any way reflected on the President. They 
could see no reason why any President should have a veto 
over a decree of Congress respecting the withdrawal of the 
United States. N^ay, if the question ever arose it would be 
when some other man was President, for Mr. Wilson assuredly 
would not occupy the White House after March fourth, 1921. 
There was, therefore, nothing personal in the reservation. 

And now came up for consideration the reservation touching 
Article X of the Covenant, the reservation which the President 
had denounced as "striking a knife thrust at the heart of the 
treaty." The attack by the administration party began by 
offering a substitute setting forth that the suggestions of the 
Council of the League concerning the carrying out of the 
obligations imposed by the Article were advisory; that any 
undertaking calling for the use of land or naval forces or eco- 
nomic measures by the United States could be put into effect 
only by the action of Congress, and that failure to adopt the 
suggestions of the Council, or provide military or naval forces 
or economic measures, "shall not constitute a violation of the 
treaty." It was defeated by a vote of forty-eight against, to 
thirty-six in favor. !Not one Republican Senator voted for it, 
and but four Democratic against it. The "irreconcilables" 
thereupon offered a reservation to the effect that the United 
States assumed no legal or moral obligation under Article X. 
The roll call showed that sixty-eight voted nay, and but eighteen 
yea. A reservation offered by Senator Walsh was then taken 
up, as an amendment, providing that the words declaring 
against the use of the armed forces of the United States, save 
with the consent of Congress, be stricken from the reservation 
reported by the Committee on Foreign Relations. It was 



THE TREATY REJECTED 425 

defeated, wHereupon the Senator offered another, setting forth 
that the United States "releases the other members of the 
League of IvTations from any obligation under Article X, and 
declines to participate in any proceedings in the Council au- 
thorized thereby." He was charged with not acting in good 
faith, with meddling with the affairs of other nations, with 
putting the United States in the position of dictating to other 
countries. The Committee's reservation, was the reply, releases 
the United States from all obligations under Article X. It is 
only fair, therefore, to release the other nations. 

]^o vote was reached that day nor, indeed, on the morrow. 
Should the Walsh amendment be adopted it would be equiva- 
lent, so far as the United States was concerned, to cutting out 
of the treaty Article X. Seeing this opportunity to destroy the 
detested Article, a number of radical Republican Senators 
agreed to vote for the Amendment, and only a motion to ad- 
journ made at the close of a long debate prevented a vote being 
taken. Had the amendment been adopted, the "middle ground" 
Senators would have refused to support the reservation as 
amended and would have been joined by the administration 
Senators in voting it down, for the sole object in offering the 
amendment was to divide the majority and so bring about the 
defeat of the reservation. 

On the following day petitions to invoke the cloture rule 
and limit debate on the treaty were passed around for signa- 
tures by Democratic Senators and by Republicans of the middle 
ground group, for it was believed that five of the irreconcil- 
ables were engaged in a filibuster, in a plan to prolong debate 
to the end of the session and so prevent a final vote on the 
resolution of ratification. 

JSTovember thirteenth, before debate was resumed on the 
Walsh amendment, the leader of the minority offered his peti- 
tion signed by twenty-three Democrats. Limitation of debate, 
it was stipulated, should apply to the reservations, and not to 
the entire treaty. Against this a point of order was raised 
that it must cover the entire treaty. The point was sustained 



426 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

by tlie chair. Senator Hitclicock appealed from the ruling. 
Senator Lodge moved to lay the appeal on the table, the motion 
was carried and the petition was thus ruled out. The Walsh 
amendment, and every other amendment and substitute, and 
there were many of them, were voted down, and the reservation 
to Article X, as reported by the Committee, was finally carried 
by a vote of forty-six yeas to thirty-three nays. This done. 
Senator Lodge offered his petition for cloture signed by thirty 
Republicans. 

On Friday the fourteenth, owing to the death of a Senator 
from Virginia, the Senate was not in session. On Saturday 
the fifteenth, before the petition was put to vote. Senators of 
both parties, fearing that cloture might prevent them from 
offering other reservations, sent a flood of them to the clerks' 
desks before the vote was taken. After some explanation by 
the Vice-President the vote was ordered. Seventy-eight Sena- 
tors answered yea, and sixteen nay. Under the rule thus 
adopted each Senator might speak for one hour. He might 
use his allotted time in one speech, or he might speak many 
times, but the sum total of the minutes so spent must not 
exceed sixty. 

Cloture having thus been invoked, Senator Lodge moved the 
adoption of reservation N^o. 4, and before the Senate adjourned 
reservations 4 to 13 inclusive were adopted. When reservation 
'No. 5 was under debate Senator Hale, of Maine, offered an 
amendment providing that "all questions relating to the present 
boundaries of the United States and its insular possessions" 
should be determined solely by the United States. This was 
necessary, he explained, in order that the boundary between 
Maine and Canada might not be violated by any attempt by 
Canada to obtain an outlet to the Atlantic. A Senator from 
California made the meaning of this more clear by reading 
from a newspaper a statement that Canada supported the 
League of Nations Covenant because under it she would be able 
to obtain an outlet to the Atlantic across American territory. 
The amendment was adopted. All other amendments offered 



THE TREATY REJECTED 427 

to the reservations were defeated. On Monday, ]!^ovember 
seventeentii, the two remaining reservations, 14 and 15, were 
. rejected, and nothing remained but the flood of amendments 
sent in by the Senators before cloture was adopted. 

To the newspaper men. Senator Hitchcock said he had seen 
the President and found that he still regarded the Lodge reser- 
vations as nullifying the treaty and impossible of acceptance. 
"President Wilson will pocket the treaty if the Lodge program 
of reservations is carried out in the ratifying resolution. The 
President did not say, however, that all the Lodge reservations 
were unacceptable." The first reservation, often called the pre- 
amble, the President regarded as killing the treaty. That affect- 
ing Article X was also objectionable. What reservations the 
President might accept, the Senator would not disclose. If 
the Lodge resolution of ratification were defeated the Senator 
was sure the President would withdraw the treaty unless the 
deadlock promised "a means of compromise." It was the 
expectation of the Senator that the resolution of ratification 
would be voted down. Once out of the way, the administra- 
tion Senators would seek to obtain the adoption of their sub- 
stitute resolution with the reservation as to Article X. After- 
this was rejected, and he expected it would be, then the Senate" 
would be ready to consider a compromise. 

Tuesday, the eighteenth, the Senate sat for twelve hours 
considering a score and more of reservations offered by indi- 
vidual Senators. Two were adopted. One withheld the assent 
of the United States to Part 13, Articles CCCLXXXVII to 
CDXXVII inclusive, unless Congress, by act or joint resolu- 
tion, shall make provision for representation in the organiza- 
tion set up by Part 13. The other set forth that "the United 
States assumes no obligation to be bound by any election, de- 
cision, report or finding of the Council or the Assembly in 
which any member of the league and its self-governing domin- 
ions, colonies and parts of empire in the aggregate have more 
than one vote, and assumes no obligation to be bound by any 
decision, report or finding of the Council or Assembly arising 



428 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

out of any dispute between the United States and a member 
of the league if such member or any self-governing dominion, 
colony, empire or part of empire united with it politically has 
voted." All others were defeated. 

About nine o'clock at night the Committee of the Whole 
finished its work and the treaty was formally reported to the 
Senate. An. attempt to strike from the preamble the require- 
ment that the reservations must be accepted by at least three 
of the four principal Allied Powers failed; the Hale amend- 
mient was stricken from reservation ISTo. 5, and the fifteen reser- 
vations were adopted. 

When the Senate assembled on Wednesday, the nineteenth, 
it was known that at the request of the Administration Sena- 
tors, the President had written their leader a letter expressing 
his wishes. "You were good enough to bring me word that 
the Democratic Senators supporting the treaty expected to hold 
a conference between the final votes on the Lodge resolution of 
ratification, and that they would be glad to receive a word of 
counsel from me. 

"I should hesitate to offer it in any detail, but I assume 
that the Senators only desire my judgment upon the all-impor- 
tant question of the final vote on the resolution containing the 
many reservations of Senator Lodge. On that I cannot hesi- 
tate, for in my opinion the resolution in that form does not 
provide for ratification, but rather for nullification of the 
treaty. 

"I sincerely hope that the friends and supporters of the 
treaty will vote against the Lodge resolution of ratification. 

"I understand that the door will then be open for a genuine 
resolution of ratification. 

"I trust all true friends of the treaty will refuse to support 
the Lodge resolution." 

The wish of the President was gratified. The Lodge reso- 
lution, which required a two-thirds vote, was defeated by thirty- 
nine yeas to fifty-five nays. A motion to reconsider was then 
carried; a motion to adjourn was lost, and the Vice-President 



THE TREATY REJECTED 429 

ruled that the treaty was now back in the Committee of the 
Whole. Senator Lodge raised a point of order against the 
ruling, and the Senate sustained it. 

Senator Hitchcock then attempted to offer a substitute resolu- 
tion of ratification without any reservations whatever. Against 
this a point of order was raised, was overruled by the Vice- 
President, and an appeal sustained. Attempts were made to 
amend reservation E'o. 1 ; to reconsider the vote by which it was 
adopted; to refer the treaty and the majority resolution of rati- 
fication to a Committee of Conciliation ; to recomLtnit the treaty 
to the Committee on Foreign Relations with instructions to re- 
port it with a compromise resolution proposed by Senator Hitch- 
cock, but they were all defeated, as was the Lodge resolution 
when put to a final vote. By unanimous consent a vote was 
then taken on ratification without reservations. The nays had 
it and the long struggle for ratification ended. 

'No sooner was the final vote taken than Senator Lodge offered 
a concurrent resolution that the "state of war between Germany 
and the United States is hereby declared to be at an end." But 
the House having adjourned sine die it went over to the next ses- 
sion which opened on the first of December. 

While the Senate was wrangling over amendments and reser- 
vations the treaty was ratified by Great Britain, France and 
Italy, and all that remained to be done was to take the steps nec- 
essary to put it in force. These were four in number : a formal 
exchange of ratifications by the three Powers ; a deposit of the 
instruments of ratification in the French Foreign Office at 
Paris ; the drafting of a proces-verbal, or record of the deposit of 
the instruments of ratification, and the formal promulgation of 
the treaty. But Germany, month after month, had deliberately 
and defiantly violated article after article of the Armistice. 
She had not delivered all the locomotives and cars required. 
She had not withdrawn within her boundaries all her troops 
in Russia. She had not stopped requisitions, seizures, coercive 
measures in Russia. She had not delivered complete state- 
ments of all specie and securities removed, collected, or con- 



430 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

fiscated in the invaded countries. She had not delivered all 
German submarines. One had been destroyed off Ferrol by 
her commander. Others had been sunk in the ITorth Sea 
while on their way to England. At Scapa Flow, battleships 
she was under obligations to maintain, had been sunk. She 
had not returned the works of art and artistic documents taken 
from France and Belgium, nor the industrial and agricultural 
material stolen from French and Belgian territory, and she 
had exported aerial material to Holland, Denmark and Swe- 
den. 

Because of these and other violations of the terms of the 
armistice and protocols signed at Spa and Brussels, the Su- 
preme Council on ISTovember 6 addressed to Germany a note 
and a special protocol. 

The note set forth that three Powers had ratified the treaty 
and that "there will take place at Paris, a proces-verhal at 
which the German Government is requested to participate." 
But the principal Allied and Associated powers had decided 
that the treaty should not go into force until Germany had 
fully executed her obligation under the armistice convention. 

The German Government therefore was invited to send 
to Paris on ISTovember 10 reptresentatives duly authorized 
to sign the proces verbal, and the proposed protocol. The pro- 
tocol set forth each requirement of the armistice violated by 
Germany and bound her to fulfill her obligations. By way of 
reparation for the ships destroyed at Scapa Flow she must, 
within sixty days after signing, deliver five light cruisers, 
and within ninety days deliver in good condition such a num- 
ber of floating docks, cranes, tugs, and dredges as would 
amount to four hundred thousand tons displacement, pay the 
Allies the value of the exported aerial material, and do many 
other things by way of restitution. 

ISI'ovember 10 came; but no German representatives. In- 
deed, a week passed before they arrived, and on l^ovember 22 
they returned to Berlin leaving the protocol unsigned. Germany 
was defiant and for this the diplomats and publicists of France 



THE TREATY REJECTED 431 

blamed our Senate. Resistance, it was said, would never have 
been made had not the Senate failed to ratify the treaty. It 
is useless to look further for the origin of the movement of 
chicanery and revolt beyond the Rhine. It is the natural re^ 
suit of the sabotage of the Senate at Washington against the 
treaty of Versailles. Germany is seeking to prolong the pro- 
tocol negotiation in order to secure a revision of the treaty. 
She objected, it soon became known, to paying for the ships 
destroyed at Scapa Flow, and to the requirement in the treaty 
that Germans charged with crimes against the usages of war 
be surrendered, and offered to submit to The Hague tribunal 
the question of indemnity for the ships. The Supreme Coun- 
cil in a note equivalent to an ultimatum refused to change 
the treaty terms, warned Germany that the denunciation by 
her of the armistice would leave the allied armies free to act, 
and that it expected the protocol to be signed and the ratifica- 
tion to be exchanged without delay. A second note dealt with 
the Scapa Flow incident and charged Germany with full re- 
sponsibility for the sinking of the ships. 

The German Government, was the reply, "desires to dis- 
sipate the misunderstanding that, owing to the momentary 
absence of Am.erican delegates from the commission provided 
for by the treaty of peace," Germany claimed modifications 
of the treaty concerning the extradition of persons charged 
with acts contrary to the laws of war. Before the Allied note 
was received she had explained the reasons for the desired 
change, but she never made her assent to putting the treaty 
into force conditional "on a previous solution of that quesr 
tion." She still believed that the best way to settle the Scapa 
Flow incident was to submit the matter to The Hague Tri- 
bunal. But, desirous to do her utmost to secure the speedy 
reestablishment of peace, she was ready to make reparation 
for the damage done to the Allied and Associated Govern- 
ments by the sinking of the ships. This she could not do in 
the manner demanded by the protocol. It would ruin her eco- 
nomic life and make it impossible to carry out the enormous 



432 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

obligations whicli tlie treaty imposed. She would, therefore, 
through experts, draft propositions showing a mode of repara- 
tion which, though it added a new and heavy burden to Ger- 
many, would not be incompatible with her vital interests. 

Weeks were now spent in negotiation before the protocol 
was signed and ratification of the treaty exchanged at Paris 
on January 10, 1920. France, Great Britain, Belgium, Japan 
and such other Powers as had ratified were now at peace with 
Germany; but the United States was technically still at war. 

Since the day when the resolution of ratification failed 
of adoption in the Senate, nothing had been accomplished. 
By the people the rejection of the treaty was received with 
surprise, indignation and indifference. Senator Lodge declared 
there was "no room for further compromise." He wanted "to 
carry those reservations into the campaign." He wished 
"the people to see them, understand them, and think of them 
in every household, on every farm, in every shop and factory 
throughout the land. Then let them decide." Senator Hitch- 
cock was for compromise. The President kept silent. He 
was, indeed, reported to have said that he considered respon- 
sibility for the fate of the treaty to have been shifted from 
his shoulders to those of others, and there he was disposed to 
let it rest. But he took no oflficial action, made no official 
statement. Rumors that he would take some action to end the 
deadlock, that he was convinced some compromise must be 
reached were set at rest about the middle of the month by an 
official statement from the White House. "It was learned 
from the highest authority at the executive offices to-day (De- 
cember 14) that the hope of the Republican leaders of the Sen- 
ate that the President would presently make some move which 
will relieve the situation with regard to the treaty is entirely 
without foundation. 

"He has no compromise or concession of any kind in mind, 
but intends, so far as he is concerned, that the Republican 
leaders of the Senate shall continue to bear the undivided re- 



THE TREATY REJECTED 433 

sponsibilitj for the fate of the treaty, and the present condi- 
tion of the world in consequence of that fate." 

In the opinion of the Democratic Senators the position taken 
by the President was a justification of that taken by them. 
It was not the duty of the President to suggest a compromise. 
His duty was done when he presented the treaty. It was the 
duty of the Senate to dispose of it by final action. Until then 
it was before the Senate. Senator Lodge held that it should 
be withdrawn by the President and resubmitted with any pro- 
posals for compromise reservations he might see fit to make. 
It was now suggested that the Democrats should submit pro- 
posals to the mild reservationists ; that the mild reservationists 
prepare a set of reservations; that a committee on conciliation 
be appointed; that the Republicans make concessions; that a 
bi-partisan round table be held during the holidays to take 
the treaty out of politics. Senator Knox offered two resolu- 
tions which finally were referred to the Committee on For- 
eign Eelations. One declared the war at an end; the other 
proposed the ratification of the treaty without the covenant of 
the League of ^NTations. Senator Underwood attempted to ob- 
tain consideration of a resolution for the appointment by the 
President of the Senate of ten Senators to consider ways and 
means of securing the ratification of the treaty and report 
such a form of ratification as they believed would secure the 
approval of not less than two-thirds of the Senate; but Mr. 
Lodge prevented consideration. 

During the holidays many informal conferences were held, 
but the old year ended and the new came with nothing accom- 
plished. Everybody was waiting for the party dinner on Jack- 
son Day, January 8, the anniversary of the Battle of 'New 
Orleans. Kever before had the public and the party interest 
in this annual dinner been so great, for the issues soon to be 
faced were many and serious, would-be candidates for the 
Presidency were to speak, Mr. Bryan was to attend, and it was 
well knov^rn that from the President would come a letter on the 
treaty. So great was the attendance that the diners were di- 



434 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

vided into two groups. One, said to number some eight hun- 
dred, sat down at the Willard Hotel; the other, almost as 
large, at the Washington. The twelve speakers were also di- 
vided, and while six spoke at one hotel, six spoke at the other. 
Each group then took the other's place. 

"Germany," said the President in his letter, "is heaten, but 
we are still at w^ar with her, and the old stage is reset for a 
repetition of the old plot. It is now ready for a resumption of 
the old offensive and defensive alliances which made settled 
peace impossible. 

"Without the covenant of the League of !N"ations there may 
be as many secret treaties as ever. 

"i^one of the objects we professed to be fighting for has 
been secured, or can be made certain of, without this nation's 
ratification of the treaty and its entrance into the Covenant. 

"The maintenance of the peace of the world and the effec- 
tive execution of the treaty depend upon the whole-hearted par- 
ticipation of the United States. I am not stating it as a mat- 
ter of power. The point is that the United States is the only 
nation which has sufficient moral force with the rest of the 
world to guarantee the substitution of discussion for war. If 
we keep out of this agreement, if we do not give our guaran- 
tee, then another attempt will be made to crush the small new 
nations of Europe. 

"I do not believe that this is what the people of this country 
wish or will be satisfied with. Personally I do not accept 
the action of the Senate of the United States as the decision 
of the nation. 

"I have endeavored to make it plain that if the Senate 
wishes to say what the undoubted meaning of the League is, 
I shall have no objection. There can be no reasonable objec- 
tion to the interpretations accompanying the act of ratification 
itself. But when the treaty is acted upon, I must know 
whether it means that we have ratified or rejected it. 

"We cannot rewrite this treaty. We must take it without 
changes which alter the meaning, or leave it, and then after 



THE TREATY REJECTED 435 

the rest of the world has signed it, we must face the unthink- 
able task of making another and separate treaty with Ger- 
many. 

"If there is any doubt as to what the people of the country 
think on this vital matter, the clear and only way out is to 
submit it for determination at the next election to the voters 
of the nation, to give the next election the form of a great 
and solemn referendum, a referendum as to the part the 
United States is to play in completing the settlement of the war 
and in the prevention in the future of such outrages as Ger- 
many attempted to perpetuate." 

Mr. Bryan did not agree with the President. The party 
could not go to the country on such an issue. It was in the 
minority in the Senate and could not dictate the terms on 
which the treaty should be ratified. 

"The Democratic Senators stood with the President for 
ratification without reservation, and I stood with them be- 
lieving that it was better to secure within the league, after it 
was established, any necessary changes, than to attempt to se- 
cure them by reservations in the ratifying resolutions. 

"But our plan has been rejected and we must face the situa- 
tion as it is." 

"We must either secure such compromises as may be pos- 
sible, or present the issue to the country. The latter course 
would mean a delay of at least fourteen months and then suc- 
cess only in case of our securing a two-thirds majority in the 
Senate. 

"We cannot afford, either as citizens or as members of the 
party, to share with the Eepublican Party responsibility for 
further delay; we cannot go before the country on the issue 
that such an appeal would present. The Republicans have a 
majority in the Senate, and, therefore, can by right dictate 
the Senate's course. Being in the minority, we cannot de- 
mand the right to decide the terms upon which the Senate will 
consent to ratification. 

"Our I^Tation has spent 100,000 precious lives and more 



4S6 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

than $20,000,000,000 to make the world safe for democracy 
and the fundamental principle of democracy is the right of 
the majority to rule. It applies to the Senate and to the 
House as well as to the people. According to the Constitu- 
tion a treaty is ratified by a two-thirds vote, but the Democratic 
Party cannot afford to take advantage of the constitutional 
right of a minority to prevent ratification. 

"A majority of Congress can declare war. Shall we make 
it more difficult to conclude a treaty than to enter a war ? 

"ITeither can we go before the country on the issue raised 
by Article X. If we do not intend to impair the right of 
Congress to decide the question of peace or war when the 
time for action arises, how can we insist upon a moral obli- 
gation to go to war which can have no force or value except 
as it does impair the independence of Congress? We owe it 
to the world to join in an honest effort to put an end to war 
forever, and that effort should be made at the earliest pos- 
sible moment." 

The advice fell on dull ears. The old-fashioned doctrine 
that the majority should rule did not seem applicable. Only 
a few Senators approved the plan to carry the issue into the 
campaign. The President was reminded that the Constitu- 
tion explicitly provided in what manner a treaty should be 
ratified, that no provision was made for "a great and solemn 
referendum," and the work of conciliation went on mol-e 
earnestly than ever. Kumor had it that there would soon 
be a round table conference of Democrats and Republicans. 
l^ow and then some action by popular organizations showed 
the drift of public opinion. Delegates representing twenty- 
six organizations, farm, labor, educational, religious and civic, 
at a meeting in Washington adopted resolutions and sent them 
by a committee to the President, and to Senators Hitchcock 
and Lodge. Peace, so ran the resolutions, is declared and the 
United States is not a party to it. As the representatives of 
twenty-six national organizations which had expressed the 
judgment of their millions of members that the treaty should 



THE TREATY REJECTED 437 

be immediately ratified in such wise as not to require rene- 
gotiation, they had come to Washington to convey to the Presi- 
dent the overwhelming sentiment that supported the demand 
for ratification. They unhesitatingly affirmed that the coun- 
try desired peace at once and urged "immediate ratification 
with such reservations as may secure in the Senate the nec- 
essai-y two-thirds, even though this may require from the treaty 
making power the same spirit of self-denying sacrifice which 
won the war." The World should not wait longer for America 
to make peace. 

In more than four hundred Uiniversities and Colleges scat- 
tered over the country a poll was taken on six propositions 
sent out by the Intercollegiate Eeferendum Committee. When 
all returns were in it was found that 158,078 votes were cast. 
The propositions were: the League and the Treaty without 
reservations or amendments, far which there were 48,653 
votes; no League or Treaty in any form which received 13,933 ; 
the League and the Treaty with the Lodge reservations which 
found 27,970 supporters; such a compromise as would hasten 
ratification for which 49,653 ballots were cast; the Treaty 
of Peace without the covenant of the League of !N"ations for 
which 6,949 persons voted, and the League and the Treaty 
with the reservations demanded by Mr. Hitchcock which re- 
ceived 11,841 votes. 

By this time the oft suggested round table had taken the 
form of an unauthorized, unofficial bipartisan conference of 
five Democrats and four Republicans under the lead of Sen- 
ators Hitchcock and Lodge. Conference after conference was 
held in secret. Agreement was reached, tentatively, on the 
preamble, on all sections of the reservations save those con- 
cerning Article X, the Monroe Doctrine, and a few minor 
matters. That agreement would be reached even on Article 
X seemed quite possible when the Republican "irreconcilables" 
served notice that if any changes were made in the reserva- 
tions touching Article X and the Monroe Doctrine the treaty 
would be rejected. On Monday, January 26, accordingly, 



438 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

Senator Lodge announced to the Democratic members of the 
conference that no compromise on Article X, nor on the Mon- 
roe Doctrine reservation was possible. They at once left the 
meeting to consider their reply which was delivered the fol- 
lowing day. They had, they said, entered on the conference 
"without any reservations or restrictions" in the hope that 
differences might be compromised not only on Article X, but 
on all other reservations, and assumed that the other side had 
a like purpose. "The unexpected interruption of the confer- 
ence and the decision to refuse any compromise on Article X" 
was all the more surprising because it seemed that they were 
close to an agreement on this very reservation by means of an- 
other which they now made public.^ 

Gloomy as was the prospect of compromise one more meet- 
ing, the last, was held on January 30. The Democratic Sena- 
tors began by offering a reservation on Article X proposed 
in the Philadelphia Public Ledger ^ by Mr. Taft. Senator 
Lodge rejected it, and when asked to submit some other, de- 
clared that the original reservation must stand. Thereupon 
the conference ended. 

ISTothing now remained to do save bring the treaty again 
before the Senate or allow the questions of ratification of the 
Covenant of the League of ^Nations to be carried into the 
Presidential Campaign. There were three ways by either of 

* "The United States assumes no obligation to employ its military or 
naval forces or the economic boycott to preserve the territorial integrity 
or political independence of any other country under the provisions of 
Article X, or to employ the military or naval forces of the United States 
under any article of the treaty for any purpose, unless in any particular 
case the Congress, which, under the constitution, has the sole power to 
declare war or authorize the employment of the military or naval forces 
of the United States, shall by act or joint resolution so provide. Noth- 
ing herein shall be deemed to impair the obligation in Article XVI con- 
cerning the economic boycott." 

^"The United States declines to assume any legal or binding obligation 
to preserve the territorial integrity or geographical independence of any 
other country under the provisions of Article X, or to employ the mili- 
tary or naval forces of the United States under any article of the treaty 
for any purpose; but the Congress, which under the constitution has the 
sole power in the premises, will consider and decide what moral obliga- 
tion, if any, under the circumstances of any particular case, when it arises, 
should move the United States, in the interest of the world peace and 
justice, to take action therein, and will provide accordingly." 



THE TREATY REJECTED 439 

whicli the treaty might again be brought before the Senate. 
The President might withdraw and resubmit it, an act no- 
body expected he would do. It might be taken up by unani- 
mous consent which nobody expected could be obtained. It 
might be brought up under a suspension of Rule 13 relating 
to the reconsideration of questions the Senate had once re- 
fused to reconsider. This would require a two-thirds vote. 
The Democrats decided to make the attempt and on January 
31 formal notice was given that on Tuesday, February 10, 
Senator Hitchcock would move that the Senate proceed to 
consider the treaty of peace with Germany. Thereupon on 
February 2 Mr. Lodge served notice that on February 9 he 
would ask unanimous consent to the suspension of Rule 13, 
and failing in that would move its suspension. 

And now help came from a most unexpected source, a letter 
written by Viscount Grey to the editor of the London Times.^ 

iN'othing, he began by saying, is more desirable in interna- 
tional politics than a good understanding between the Ulnited 
States and Great Britain. Nothing more disastrous than mis- 
understanding. Some aspects of the position of the United 
States on the League of Nations were not understood in Great 
Britain, and it was in hopes of making that position better 
understood that he wrote his letter. One misunderstanding 
should be cleared away at the outset. 'No charge, he said, of 
bad faith or repudiation of signatures can be brought against 
the United States. The Senate is an independent element in 
the treaty making power and its refusal to ratify must not be 
construed as repudiation. ISTor is it fair to charge the United 
States with holding up the treaty from motives of party poli- 
tics. ITor is it true to say that the United States "is moved 
solely by a selfish interest to a disregard of high ideals." There 
is in the United States a strong feeling for the traditional 
policy of keeping clear of European alliance. The League of 
N'ations is not merely a plunge into the unknown, but a plunge 

* The letter waa published in full in the Philadelphia PuhUc Ledger Feb- 
ruary 1, 1920. 



440 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

into something whicli the traditions of the United States have 
hitherto disapproved. Hence the desire for reservations. 
Should the Covenant stand unchanged it will be possible for 
a President, some time in the future, to commit the United 
States to a policy which the Congress at that time may dis- 
approve. Such a contingency cannot arise in Great Britain 
but it may in the United States which is quite right, if it so 
desires, to provide against it. 

The help of the United States is most essential to secure 
peace. Without her the League will be little better than an 
alliance for armed self defense. It will have behind it neither 
physical nor the moral force it should hava It will be a Eu- 
ropean, not a world organization, the old order of things will 
be revived, and the fretful nations will have power to disturb 
the peace. It would be a mistake to suppose that because the 
United States wished to limit its obligations it intended to 
play a little part in the League of ^Nations. If she enters as 
a willing partner with limited obligations it may well be that 
her influence in the League will be more forceful than if she 
comes as a reluctant partner "who felt her hands had been 
forced." 

Concerning one reservation, the fourteenth, Lord Grey 
wrote at length, and closed with these words: "Our object is 
to maintain the status of the self-governing dominions, not to 
secure a greater British than American vote, and we have no 
objection in principle to an increase of the American vote." 

Great was the impression made by the letter. On both sides 
of the water it was hailed as candid, high-minded, statesman- 
like, as a letter to which no one could object. It was held to 
mean that he would accept the Lodge reservations, and that 
undoubtedly the British Government would do likewise if given 
the opportunity. Though addressed to the Times it had all 
the force of a state paper, was a powerful appeal to the United 
States to enter the League, and cleared the way for the adop- 
tion of the Lodge reservations. Let us meet the United States 
so liberally, said a London paper, as to leave her not an ex- 



THE TREATY REJECTED 441 

cuse for standing out. Let her send over a shipload of res- 
ervations. Lord Grey, it was said, spent his ninety days in 
Washington to good purpose. He was gathering information, 
absorbing American opinion. He was in conference, in- 
formally, with leaders of both parties and persons holding all 
shades of opinion on the League and the Covenant. 

There were those, on the other hand, who expressed aston- 
ishment that Lord Grey while still special Ambassador, though 
absent on leave, should write a letter expressing opinions on 
political affairs in the United States, and above all on a mat- 
ter which was the subject of bitter debate. It was true that 
in the letter he said concerning his observations, "they repre- 
sent only my own personal opinion and nothing more, and 
they are given simply as those of a private individual." But 
was he, so far as the United States was concerned, a private 
individual? He had not been recalled. He had not resigned 
his post. He was still a special Ambassador though at home, 
and ought not in any way give public expression to his thoughts 
on American politics. Lloyd George, when asked by a corre- 
spondent of the New York Times what he thought of the Grey 
letter, said: "It was in the nature of a report to the British 
public on what he had observed during his stay in America, 
and to give them a clearer understanding of conditions over 
there." 

And now, as the day on which it was hoped the treaty 
would be taken up in the Senate drew near, a letter from the 
President was made public. On the evening of January 22, 
when the bipartisan conference seemed about to agree on Ar- 
ticle X, Senator Hitchcock wrote to the President: "On Ar- 
ticle X the effort to reach a compromise has now reached a 
stage where both sides are seriously considering a proposition 
as indicated by the enclosed clipping." * The letter now given 
to the press was the answer of the President bearing date Jan- 
uary 26. 

The form of the reservation the President thought very un- 

* Note, page 438. 



442 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

fortunate. Any statement that "the United States assumes no 
obligation under such and such an article unless or except," 
would, he was sure, "chill our relationship with the nations 
with which we expect to be associated" in keeping the world at 
peace. He was happy to say that he accepted the five reserva- 
tions offered by Senator Hitchcock "as they stand." ^ 

The President did not see the slightest reason to doubt the 
good faith of our associates in the war, nor the slightest reason 
to believe they would seek to commit us to a line of action on 
which Congress alone could decide; thought it would be wise 
that notice of withdrawal should be by a joint, not by a con- 
current resolution; doubted whether the President could be 
deprived of his veto even with his own consent; and saw "no 
objection to a frank statement that the United States can accept 

" Eeservations proposed by Senator Hitchcock, and rejected by the Senate 
November 19: 

"That any member nation proposing to withdraw from the League on 
two years' notice is the sole judge as to whether its obligations referred 
to in Article I of the League of Nations have been performed as required 
in said article. 

"That no member nation is required to submit to the league, its council 
or its assembly for decision, report or recommendation any matter which 
it considers to be international law, a domestic question such as immi- 
gration, labor, tariff or other matter relating to its internal or coastwise 
affairs. 

"That the national policy of the United States, known as the Monroe 
Doctrine, as announced and interpreted by the United States, is not in 
any way impaired or affected by the Covenant of the League of Nations 
and is not subject to any decision, report or inquiry by the council or 
assembly. 

* ' That the advice mentioned in Article X of the covenant of the league 
which the council may give to the member nations as to the employment of 
their naval and military forces is merely advice which each member nation 
is free to accept or reject according to the conscience and judgment of 
its then existing government, and in the United States this advice can only 
be accepted by action of the Congress at the time in being, Congress 
alone, under the constitution of the United States, having the power to 
declare war. 

"That in case of a dispute between members of the league if one of 
them has self-governing colonies, dominions or parts which have represen- 
tation in the assembly, each and all are to be considered parties to the 
dispute, and the same shall be the rule if one of the parties to the dispute 
is a self-governing colony, dominion or part, in which case all other self- 
governing colonies, dominions or parts, as well as the nation as a whole, 
shall be considered parties to the dispute, and each and all shall be dis- 
qualified from having their votes counted in case of any inquiry on said 
dispute made by the assembly." 



THE TREATY REJECTED 443 

a mandate" under any provision of the treaty "only by the 
direct authority and action" of Congress. 

On the appointed day unanimous consent to the suspension 
of Eule 13 was asked and refused; the Rule was suspended by 
vote ; the treaty was recommitted to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations, and instruction was given to report it immediately 
together with the reservations adopted by the Senate and the 
ratifying resolution. The report was made as ordered; notice 
was given that it would be called up on February 16 ; the mild 
reservationists proceeded to frame another reservation on 
Article X ; ^ the changes in the original reservations as tenta- 
tively agreed to, or considered in the bipartisan conference 
were presented, and the struggle for ratification was once more 
under way. 

Towards the close of the week a "round robin" signed by 
twenty-eight Democrats, and said to have the approval of at 
least twelve more, was presented to Senator Lodge to be laid 
before the Republicans. It was an offer to accept either the 
reservation framed in the bipartisan conference, or that pro- 
posed by Mr. Taft.''^ Senator Lodge promised to submit it 
without recommendation. 

* Proposed by the "mild reservationists": 

"The United States assumes no obligation to preserve, by the use of its 
military or naval forces, or by the economic boycott or by any other 
means, the territorial integrity or political independence of any other 
country, or to interfere in controversies, between nations, whether mem- 
bers of the league or not, under the provisions of Article X, or to employ 
the military or naval forces of the United States under any article of the 
treaty for any purpose, unless in any particular case the Congress, which, 
under the constitution, has the sole power to declare war, shall, by act or 
joint resolution, so provide." 

^ The "round robin" is as follows : 

"The undersigned Democratic senators, as a means of securing ratifica- 
tion of the treaty, will support as a reservation on Article X either of 
the following reservations, the first one being the reservation as framed in 
the bipartisan conferences recently held, and the second one being the 
last proposed reservation by former President Taft. 
"Bipartisan conference reservation: 

" 'The United States assumes no obligation to employ its military or 
naval forces or the economic boycott to preserve the territorial integ- 
rity or political independence of any other country under the pro- 
visions of Article X, or to employ the military or naval forces of 
the United States under any other article of the treaty for any 
purpose, unless in any particular case the Congress, which, under 



444 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

With the stage thus set for reconsideration discussion began 
anew, but no progress towards ratification was made when an 
incident occurred which threatened to put an end to the treaty- 
forever. 

On December 9, 1919, Great Britain, France and the United 
States came to an agreement on the Adriatic question, which 
was not accepted by Italy. Great Britain and France there- 
upon, without consulting the United States, drew up a revised 
proposal which Italy accepted on January 12, 1920, and which 
M. Clemenceau delivered to the Jugoslav delegation on January 
14. This was not accepted, whereupon Great Britain and 
France submitted another and notified both Italy and Jugo- 
slavia that if it were not accepted the Treaty of London would 
go into force. 

To all this the President objected and a memorandum on 
the Adriatic question was handed by the American Ambassador 
at Paris to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs. On the 
same day like memoranda were delivered at London and Rome. 
It was not made public, yet the French press declared the Presi- 
dent held to the plan of December, 1919, disapproved that of 
January, objected to forcing the Jugoslavs to choose between 
it and the Treaty of London, and threatened, if the Allied 
Powers settled the matter without consulting the United States, 
our country would concern itself no further in European af- 
fairs. For this he was soundly berated by the Paris press. 

the constitution, has the sole power to declare war, shall, by act or 
joint resolution, so provide. Nothing herein shall be deemed to 
impair the obligation in Article XVI concerning the economic boycott.' 

"Mr. Taft's suggested reservation: 

" 'The United States declines to assume any legal or binding obliga- 
tion to preserve the territorial integrity or political independence of 
any other country imder the provisions of Article X, or to employ 
the military or naval forces of the United States under any article of 
the treaty for any purpose; but the Congress, which under the con- 
stitution has the sole power in the premises, will consider and decide 
what moral obligations, if any, under the circumstances of any par- 
ticular case, when it arises, should move the United States in the 
interest of world peace and justice to take action therein, and vdll 
provide accordingly.' 

"Whichever of the above reservations is preferred by Republican 
supporters of the treaty will as a compromise be acceptable to us." 



THE TREATY REJECTED 445 

Combated, it was said, in his own country, unable to secure the 
ratification of the treaty, he comes to counteract the efforts of 
the great European powers to remedy the present confusion. 
Closed in his proud isolation, irritated by his malady, out of 
contact with the Allied Cabinets and his own ministers, the 
unreasonable President of the United States pretends to direct 
the affairs of Europe, of which he has not the slightest con- 
ception. Another thought it inadmissible that Wilson, an 
autocrat, but one about to fall, should be allowed to impose his 
political ideas on Europe when within a year a Eepublican 
would rule in the White House. Another supposed, as the 
United States possessed a great mass of pounds sterling, francs 
and lire, the diplomats at London would not wish to unchain 
the thunderbolts of the American King.^ What is this 
memorandum? asked another. Is it an ultimatum to all Eu- 
rope? Who is its real author? Mr. Wilson or the United 
States? It is absurd that when America voluntarily takes no 
part in the conferences, her President should intervene. 

Such was the news the day the treaty was taken up in the 
Senate. In Washington it was asserted by some who claimed 
to know that the memorandum was not an ultimatum, not a 
threat to withdraw from European affairs. It was a warning 
that the President might withdraw from further consideration 
of the Adriatic problem. Nor was it true, as asserted in Paris, 
that in a postscript the President threatened to withdraw not 
only the treaty of Versailles, but also that pledging aid to 
France if attacked by Germany. This in turn was denied in 
Paris when the afternoon journals published what they claimed 
was the exact text of the postscript. "The President would 
take into serious consideration the withdrawal of America 
from the treaty of Versailles and from the treaty between the 
United States and France." 

The reply of the Allies to the President was kept secret. But 
what was said to be the gist of it was cabled from Rome by 

® La Liberie, Echo de Paris, Intransigeant, quoted by New York Times, 
February 16, 1920. 



446 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

a correspondent to his newspaper in Buenos Aires. To the 
charge of bad faith they were said to have answered that the 
President was unable to prove it. The President's plan for 
a buffer state had been rejected by Jugoslavia. The little strip 
of territory necessary to join Piume with Italy was too 
insignificant to justify delay in settling peace in Europe. Italy 
had entered the war at a moment as critical as that when the 
United States came in, and had made sacrifices in blood and 
money far greater than had the United States. Threatening 
withdrawal of the treaty of Versailles gravely injured French 
policy for which the President invited protection. 

During the excitement aroused by this new dispute over 
Fiume, the Senate did nothing with the treaty. On the twenty- 
first of the month, however, after some hours of debate, on the 
treaty as a campaign issue, the Lodge reservation on withdrawal 
from the League was readopted, by a large majority. 

l^othing more was done for a week. Meantime the 
memoranda exchanged on the Fiume issue were given to the 
public. It then appeared that the President stood firmly by 
the proposal of December 9. The Adriatic issue raised the 
question, he said, as to whether the American Government 
could, on any terms, cooperate with its European associates in 
the great work of maintaining the peace of the world by re- 
moving the primary causes of war. ^'If substantial agreement 
on what is just and reasonable is not to determine international 
issues ; if the country possessing the most endurance in pressing 
its demands rather than the country armed with a just cause, 
is to gain the support of the powers; if forcible seizure of 
coveted areas is to be permitted and condoned, and is to receive 
ultimate justification by creating a situation so difl&cult that 
decision favorable to the aggressor is deemed a practical 
necessity; if deliberately incited ambition is, under the name 
of national sentiment, to be rewarded at the expense of the 
small and the weak ; if, in a word, the old order of things which 
brought so many evils on the world is still to prevail, then the 
time is not yet come when this Government can enter a concert 



THE TREATY REJECTED 447 

of powers the very existence of which must depend upon a new 
spirit and a new order." "If it does not appear feasible to secure 
acceptance of the just and generous concessions offered by the 
British, French and American Governments to Italy in the 
joint memorandum of those powers of December 9, 1919, which 
the President has already clearly stated to be the maximum 
concession that the Government of the United States can offer, 
the President desires to say that he must take under serious 
consideration the withdrawal of the treaty with Germany and 
the agreement between the United States and France of June 
28, 1919, which are now before the Senate and permitting the 
European settlement to be independently established and en- 
forced by the associated governments." 

France and Great Britain in their joint reply defended their 
action ; argued the points raised by the President ; viewed "with 
consternation the threat of the United States Government to 
withdraw from the comity of nations because it does not agree 
to the precise terms of the Adriatic settlement" ; earnestly 
trusted the United States "will not wreck the whole machinery 
for dealing with international disputes," and could not "be- 
lieve that it is the purpose of the American people to take 'a 
step so far-reaching and terrible in its effects on a ground which 
has the appearance of being so inadequate." 

The Senate on February 26 having resumed consideration of 
the reservations put off discussion on Article X until all others 
were acted on, adopted that concerning mandates by an almost 
unanimous vote, and were debating the fourth when a motion 
to adjourn was carried. I'^early a week passed before reserva- 
tions four, five, six and eight and the bipartisan substitute for 
the seventh were adopted. Five more were adopted early in 
the second week of March and none save Article X remained 
to be considered. All this, however, would be of no avail, would 
be but a new threshing of old straw, unless the President would 
accept some form of compromise on the much debated article. 
As a last effort to obtain his views on the critical situation of 
the treaty, the Democrats chose a Senator to be their spokes- 



448 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

man, and the party leader requested for him an audience with 
the President. The request was denied; but the President 
gave his views in a long letter to Senator Hitchcock. 

He did not think it necessary to stipulate in connection with 
Article X, the constitutional methods we should use in fulfill- 
ing our obligation under it. ^Nothing would be gained by such 
stipulations, nothing would be secured not already secured. 
There could be no objection to explaining our constitutional 
methods, to declaring that Congress alone can declare war. 
But it would be a work of supererogation. Reservations which 
had come under his notice were, almost without exception, not 
interpretations but virtual nullifications of the articles to which 
they were attached. "Any reservation which seeks to deprive 
the League of Nations of the force of Article X, cuts at the 
very heart and life of the Covenant itself." A League of ITa- 
tions which did not guarantee the political independence of 
each of its members might be hardly more than a futile scrap 
of paper. If we were to reject Article X, or take the force out 
of it, we would show a desire to go back to the old world of 
jealous rivalry and misunderstandings from which our gallant 
soldiers had rescued us. "If we have awakened, as has the 
rest of the world, to the vision of a new day in which the 
mistakes of the past are to be corrected, we will welcome the 
opportunity to share the responsibilities of Article X." 

It was far from certain that imperialistic policies and mili- 
taristic ambitions were dead in the councils of our late Allies. 
"Throughout the sessions of the conference in Paris it was 
evident that a militaristic party under the most influential 
leadership was seeking to gain ascendaucy in the councils of 
France. They were defeated then but are in control now. The 
chief arguments advanced in Paris in support of the Italian 
claims on the Adriatic were strategic arguments, that is to say 
militaristic arguments which had at their back the thought of 
naval supremacy on the sea." "Every imperialistic influence in 
Europe was hostile to the embodiment of Article X in the 
Covenant of the League of Nations, and its defeat now would 



THE TREATY REJECTED 449 

mark the complete consummation of their efforts to nullify 
the treaty." 

Every so-called reservation was in effect "a rather sweeping 
nullification of the terms of the treaty itself. I hear of roserva- 
tionists and mild reservationists, but I cannot understand the 
difference between a nullifier and a mild nuUifier.* 

And now a new reservation ^ to Article X was prepared and 
the announcement made that when the time came it would be 
laid before the Senate, and still another, a substitute for that 
so long the cause of bitter contention, was offered by Senator 
Lodge. -^^ That the President would not accept it was fully 
believed. E^evertheless after the insertion of an amending 
clause ^^ it was adopted by the aid of votes cast by Democratic 
Senators. 

]^ot content with this another reservation was introduced. 
"It shall be the declared policy of this Government that the 
freedom and peace of Europe, being again threatened by any 
power or combination of powers, the United States will regard 
such a situation with grave concern, and will consider what, 
if any, action it will take in the premises." It was rejected, 
and then followed a series of the most astonishing reservations 

•"The United States assumes no obligations to employ its military or 
naval forces, its resources or any form of economic discrimination to pre- 
serve the territorial integrity or political independence of any other coun- 
try, or to interfere in controversies between nations whether members of 
the League or not, under the provisions of Article X, or to employ the 
military or naval forces of the United States xinder any article of the 
treaty for any purpose, unless in any particular case the Congress, in the 
exercise of full liberty of action, shall by act or joint resolution so 
provide." 

" "The United States assumes no obligation to preserve the territorial 
integrity or political independence of any other country by the employ- 
ment of its military or navul forces, its resources, or any form of economic 
discrimination, or to interfere in controversies between nations, whether 
members of the League or not, under the provisions of Article X, or to 
employ the military or naval forces of the United States under any 
article of the treaty for any purpose, unless in any particular case the 
Congress, which, under the Constitution, has the sole power to declare war 
or authorize the employment of the military or naval forces of the United 
States, shall, in the exercise of full liberty of action, by act or joint 
resolution so provide." 

" "Or to interfere in any way in controversies between nations, including 
all controversies relating to territorial integrity or political independence, 
whether members of the League or not," &c. 



450 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR 

yet laid before the Senate. The United States understood the 
British protectorate over Egypt was a war measure intended 
to preserve the integrity of Egypt during the war ; the United 
States understood the Allied Powers would adhere to the prin- 
ciples set forth by the President in the letter on which the 
armistice was based; the United States expected the British 
protectorate over Egypt would cease as soon as notice of ratifica- 
tion by the United States was deposited in Paris. These and 
several others were laid upon the table or rejected. Then came 
one declaring that "In consenting to the ratification of the 
Treaty with Germany the United States adheres to the principle 
of self-determination and to the resolution of sympathy with 
the aspirations of the Irish people for a government of their 
own choice adopted by the Senate June 6, 1919, and declares 
that when self-government is attained by Ireland, a consum- 
mation it is hoped is at hand, it should promptly be admitted 
as a member of the League of !N"ations." 

During the debate on the following day it was said England 
would never accept such a reservation; the treaty made no 
mention of Ireland, and did not treat of self-determination as 
a general doctrine; the Senate was going beyond its powers in 
putting into the resolution consenting to ratification something 
to which no reference was made in the treaty ; the world would 
regard it as a declaration of American sympathy with revo- 
lutions of subject peoples everywhere; it was wrong to take 
a fundamental principle and apply it to a particular case; we 
had no business to dispose of the property of Great Britain 
while we did nothing for the Philippines. Efforts were made 
to strike from the reservation acceptance by the United States 
of the principle of self-determination, to limit it to Ireland, to 
so amend that it would include Korea; but in the end it was 
adopted unchanged. 

The Senate concurred in all the reservations adopted in 
Committee of the Whole and when it adjourned at eleven 
o'clock on the night of March 18, the so-called preamble to 



THE TREATY REJECTED 451 

the resolution advising and consenting to ratification alone re- 
mained to be considered. 

As it then stood this resolution provided that "ratification 
is not to take effect or bind the United States until the said 
reservations and understandings adopted by the Senate have 
been accepted by an exchange of notes" by at least three of 
the four Powers, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan. 
When the Senate met on the nineteenth this vt^as changed, and 
shortly after six o'clock, by a vote of forty-nine yeas to thirty- 
five nays, the resolution for ratification was rejected. 

Having no further use for the treaty it was ordered returned 
to the President. The resolution reads : 

"That the Secretary of the Senate be instructed to return to 
the President the Treaty of Peace with Germany signed at 
Versailles on the twenty-eighth day of June, 1919, and respect- 
fully inform the President that the Senate has failed to ratify 
said treaty, being unable to obtain the constitutional majority 
required therefor." 



APPEl^DIX A 

TEXT OF THE AHMISTICE 

One — Cessation of operations by land and in the air six hours after 
the signature of the armistice. 

Two — ^Immediate evacuation of invaded countries: Belgium, 
France, Alsace-Lorraine, Luxemburg, so ordered as to be completed 
within fourteen days from the signature of the armistice. German 
troops which have not left the above-mentioned territories within 
the period fixed will become prisoners of war. Occupation by the 
Allied and United States forces jointly will keep pace with evacuation 
in these areas. All movements of evacuation and occupation will 
be regulated in accordance with a note annexed to the stated terms. 

Three — ^Eepatriation beginning at once to be completed within fif- 
teen days of all the inhabitants of the countries above enumerated 
(including hostages, persons under trial or convicted). 

Four — Surrender in good condition by the German Armies of 
the following war materials : Five thousand guns (2,500 heavy, and 
2,500 field), 25,000 machine guns, 3,000 minenwerfer, 1,700 airplanes 
(fighters, bombers — ^firstly, all of the O 7's and all the night bombing 
machines). The above to be delivered in situ to the Allied and 
United States troops in accordance with the detailed conditions laid 
down in the note (annexure No. 1) drawn up at the moment of the 
signing of the armistice. 

Five — Evacuation by the German armies of the countries on the 
left bank of the Rhine. The countries on the left bank of the Rhine 
shall be administered by the local troops of occupation. The occu- 
pation of these territories wiU be carried out by Allied and United 
States garrisons holding the principal crossings of the Rhine (May- 
ence, Coblentz, Cologne), together with the bridgeheads at these 
points of a thirty-kilometer radius on the right bank and by garri- 
sons similarly holding the strategic points of the regions. A neu- 
tral zone shall be reserved on the right bank of the Rhine between 
the stream and a line drawn parallel to the bridgeheads and to the 
stream and at a distance of ten kilometers from the frontier of Hol- 
land up to the frontier of Switzerland. The evacuation by the 
enemy of the Rhinelands (left and right bank) shall be so ordered 

453 



454 APPENDIX A 

as to be completed within a further period of sixteen days, in all, 
thirty-one days after the signing of the armistice. All the move- 
ments of evacuation or occupation are regulated by the note (an- 
nexure 'No. 1) drawn up at the moment of the signing of the arm- 
istice. 

Six — In all territories evacuated by the enemy there shall be no 
evacuation of inhabitants; no damage or harm shall be done to the 
persons or property of the inhabitants. No person shall be prose- 
cuted for offenses of participation in war measures prior to the sign- 
ing of the armistice. No destruction of any kind shall be com- 
mitted. Military establishments of all kinds shall be delivered in- 
tact, as well as military stores of food, munitions, and equipment, 
not removed during the time fixed for evacuation. Stores of food of 
all kinds for the civil population, cattle, etc., shall be left in situ. 
Industrial establishments shall not be impaired in any way and their 
personnel shall not be removed. 

Seven — Roads and means of communication of every kind, rail- 
roads, waterways, main roads, bridges, telegraph, telephones, shall 
be in no manner impaired. All civil and military personnel at 
present employed on them shall remain. Five thousand locomotives 
and 150,000 wagons in good working order, with all necessary spare 
parts and fittings, shall be delivered to the associated powers within 
the period fixed in annexure No. 2, and total of which shall not ex- 
ceed thirty-one days. There shall likewise be delivered 5,000 motor 
lorries (camione automobiles) in good order, within the period of 
thirty-six days. The railways of Alsace-Lorraine shall be handed 
over within the period of thirty-one days, together with pre-war 
personnel and material. Further, the material necessary for the 
working of railways in the countries on the left bank of the Rhine 
shall be left in situ. All stores of coal and material for the upkeep 
of permanent ways, signals and repair shops shall be left in situ. 
These stores shall be maintained by Germany insofar as concerns 
the working of the railroads in the countries on the left bank of 
the Rhine. All barges taken from the Allies shall be restored to 
them. The note, annexure No. 2, regulates the details of these 
measures. 

Eight — The German command shall be responsible for revealing 
within the period of forty-eight hours after the signing of the arm- 
istice all mines or delayed action fuses on territory evacuated by the 
German troops and shall assist in their discovery and destruction. 
It also shall reveal all destructive measures that may have been taken 
(such as poisoning or polluting of springs and wells, etc.). All un- 
der penalty of reprisals. 



APPENDIX A 455 

Nine — The right of requisition shall be exercised by the Allied and 
United States armies in all occupied territories, subject to regula- 
tion of accounts with those whom it may concern. The upkeep of 
the troops of occupation in the Rhineland (excluding Alsace-Lor- 
raine) shall be charged to the German Government. 

Ten — The immediate repatriation without reciprocity, according to 
detailed conditions which shall be fixed, of all Allied and United 
States prisoners of war, including persons under trial or convicted. 
The Allied Powers and the United States shall be able to dispose 
of them as they wish. This condition annuls the previous conven- 
tions on the subject of the exchange of prisoners of war, including 
the one of July, 1918, in course of ratification. However, the re- 
patriation of German prisoners of war interned in Holland and in 
Switzerland shall continue as before. The repatriation of German 
prisoners of war shall be regulated at the conclusion of the pre- 
liminaries of peace. 

Eleven — Sick and wounded who cannot be removed from evacu- 
ated territory will be cared for by German personnel, who will be 
left on the spot with the medical material required. 

Twelve — All German troops at present in the territories which be- 
fore belonged to Austria-Hungary, Rumania, Turkey, shall withdraw 
immediately within the frontiers of Germany as they existed on 
August First, Nineteen Fourteen. All German troops at present in 
the territories which before the war belonged to Russia shall like- 
wise withdraw within the frontiers of Germany, defined as above, 
as soon as the Allies, taking into account the internal situation of 
these territories, shall decide that the time for this has come. 

Thirteen — Evacuation by German troops to begin at once, and 
all German instructors, prisoners, and civilians as well as military 
agents now on the territory of Russia (as defined before 1914) to 
be recalled. 

Fourteen — German troops to cease at once all requisitions and 
seizures and any other undertaking with a view to obtaining sup- 
plies intended for Germany in Rumania and Russia. 

Fifteen — ^Renunciation of the treaties of Bucharest and Brest- 
Litovsk and of the supplementary treaties. 

Sixteen — The Allies shall have free access to the territories evacu- 
ated by the Germans on their eastern frontier, either through Dan- 
zig, or by the Vistula, in order to convey supplies to the populations 
of those territories and for the purpose of maintaining order. 

Seventeen — Evacuation by all German forces operating in East 
Africa within a period to be fixed by the Allies. 

Eighteen — Repatriation, without reciprocity, within a maximum 



4>56 APPENDIX A 

period of one month in accordance with detailed conditions hereafter 
to be fixed of all interned civilians, including hostages, (persons?) 
under trial or convicted, belonging to the Allied or Associated Pow- 
ers other than those enumerated in Article 3, 

Nineteen — The following financial conditions are required: Kep- 
aration for damage done. While such armistice lasts no pub- 
lic securities shall be removed by the enemy which can serve 
as a pledge to the Allies for the recovery of reparation for war losses. 
Immediate restitution of the cash deposit in the national bank of 
Belgium, and in general immediate return of all documents, specie, 
stocks, shares, paper money, together with plan for the issue thereof, 
touching public or private interests in the invaded countries. Kes- 
titution of the Eussian and Rumanian gold yielded to Germany or 
taken by that power. This gold to be delivered in trust to the Allies 
until the signature of peace. 

Twenty — Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and definite 
information to be given as to the location and movements of all 
German ships. Notification to be given to neutrals that freedom of 
navigation in all territorial waters is given to the naval and mer- 
cantile marines of the Allied and Associated Powers, all questions 
of neutrality being waived. 

Twenty-one — All naval and mercantile marine prisoners of the 
Allied and Associated Powers in German hands to be returhed with- 
out reciprocity. 

Twenty-two — Surrender to the AUies and United States of all 
submarines, (including submarine cruisers and all mine-laying sub- 
marines), now existing, with their complete armament and equip- 
ment, in ports which shall be specified by the Allies and United 
States. Those which cannot be taken to these ports shall be dis- 
armed of the personnel and material and shall remain under the su- 
pervision of the Allies and the United States. The submarines which 
are ready for the sea shall be prepared to leave the German ports 
as soon as orders shall be received by wireless for their voyage 
to the port designated for their delivery, and the remainder at the 
earliest possible moment. The conditions of this article shall be 
carried into effect within the period of fourteen days after the sign- 
ing of the armistice. 

Twenty-three — German surface warships which shall be desig- 
nated by the Allies and the United States shall be immediately dis- 
armed and thereafter interned in neutral ports or in default of them 
in Allied ports to be designated by the Allies and the United States. 
They will there remain under the supervision of the Allies and of 
the United State? only caretakers being left on board. The follow- 



APPENDIX A 457 

ing warships are designated by the Allies : Six battle cruisers, ten bat- 
tleships, eight light cruisers (including two mine layers), fifty de- 
stroyers of the most modern types. All other surface warships (in- 
cluding river craft) are to be concentrated in German naval bases 
to be designated by the Allies and the United States and are to be 
completely disarmed and classed under the supervision of the Allies 
and the United States. The military armament of all ships of the 
auxiliary fleet shall be put on shore. All vessels designated to be in- 
terned shall be ready to leave the German ports seven days after the 
signing of the armistice. Directions for the voyage will be given 
by wireless. 

Twenty-four — The Allies and the United States of America shall 
have the right to sweep up all mine fields and obstructions laid by 
Germany outside German territorial waters, and the positions of 
these are to be indicated. 

Twenty-five — Freedom of access to and from the Baltic to be given 
to the naval and mercantile marines of the Allied and Associated 
Powers. To secure this the Allies and the United States of America 
shall be empowered to occupy all German forts, fortifications, bat- 
teries, and defense works of all kinds in all the entrances from the 
Cattegat into the Baltic, and to sweep up all mines and obstruc- 
tions within and without German territorial waters, without any 
question of neutrality being raised, and the positions of all such 
mines and obstructions are to be indicated. 

Twenty-six — The existing blockade conditions set up by the Allied 
and Associated Powers are to remain unchanged, and all German 
merchant ships found at sea are to remain liable to capture. The 
Allies and the United States should give consideration to the pro- 
visioning of Germany during the armistice to the extent recognized 
as necessary. 

Twenty-seven — All naval aircraft are to be concentrated and im- 
mobilized in German bases to be specified by the Allies and the 
United States of America. 

Twenty-eight — In evacuating the Belgian coast and ports Ger- 
many shall abandon in situ and in fact all port and river navigation 
material, all merchant ships, tugs, lighters, all naval aeronautic ap- 
paratus, material and supplies, and all arms, apparatus and supplies 
of every kind. 

Twenty-nine — All Black Sea ports are to be evacuated by Ger- 
many; aU Russian war vessels of all descriptions seized by Germany 
in the Black Sea are to be handed over to the Allies and the United 
States of America; all neutral merchant vessels seized are to be 
released; all warlike and other materials of all kinds seized in those 



45S APPENDIX A 

ports are to be returned and German materials as specified in Clause 
Twenty-eight are to be abandoned. 

Thirty — All merchant vessels in German hands belonging to the 
Allied and Associated Powers are to be restored in ports to be 
specified by the Allies and the United States of America without 
reciprocity. 

Thirty-one — No destruction of ships or of materials to be per- 
mitted before evacuation, surrender, or restoration. 

Thirty-two — Thq German Government will notify the neutral 
Governments of the world, and particularly the Governments of 
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Holland, that all restrictions placed 
on the trading of their vessels with the Allied and Associated Coun- 
tries, whether by the German Government or by private German 
interests, and whether in return for specific concessions, such as 
the export of shipbuilding materials, or not, are immediately can- 
celed. 

Thirty-three — No transfers of German merchant shipping of any 
description to any neutral flag are to take place after signature of 
the armistice. 

Thirty-four — The duration of the armistice is to be thirty days, 
with option to extend. During this period if its clauses are not car- 
ried into execution the armistice may be denounced by one of the 
contracting parties, which must give warning forty-eight hours in 
advance. It is understood that the execution of Articles 3 and 18 
shall not warrant the denunciation of the armistice on the ground 
of insufficient execution within a period fixed, except in the case of 
bad faith in carrying them into execution. In order to assure the 
execution of this convention under the best conditions, the princi- 
ple of a permanent international armistice commission is admitted. 
This commission will act under the authority of the Allied Military 
and Naval Commanders in Chief. 

Thirty-five — This armistice to be accepted or refused by Ger- 
many within seventy-two hours of notification. 

[This armistice has been signed the Eleventh of November, Nine- 
teen Eighteen, at 5 o'clock French time.] 

r. EocH. 

E. E. Wemyss. 

Erzberger. 

A. Oberndorff. 

WiNTERFELDT 

Van Salow. 



APPENDIX B 

TEXT OF THE RESOLUTION TO CREATE A WORLD LEAGUE AS 
UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED BY THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

January 25, 1919. 

The conference, having considered the proposals for the creation 
of k League of Nations, resolved that: 

It is essential to the maintenance of the world settlement which 
the associated nations are now met to establish that a League of Na- 
tions be created to promote international obligations and to provide 
safeguards against war. 

This league should be created as an integral part of the general 
treaty of peace and should be open to every civilized nation which 
can be relied on to promote its objects. 

The members of the league should periodically meet in interna- 
tional conference and should have a permanent organization and 
secretaries to carry on the business of the league in the intervals 
between the conferences. 

The conference therefore appoints a committee, representative of 
the associated Governments, to work out the details of the constitu- 
tion and the functions of the league and the draft of resolutions in 
regard to breaches of the laws of war for presentation to the Peace 
Conference. 

That a commission, composed of two representatives apiece from 
the five great powers and five representatives to be elected by the 
other powers, be appointed to inquire and report upon the follow- 
ing: 

First — The responsibility of the authors of the war. 

Second — The facts as to breaches of the laws and customs of war 
committed by the forces of the German Empire and their allies 
on land, on sea, and in the air during the present war. 

Third — The degree of responsibility for these offenses attaching to 
particular members of the enemy's forces, including members of the 
General Staffs and other individuals, however highly placed. 

459 



460 APPENDIX B 

Fourtli — The constitution and procedure of a tribunal appropriate 
to the trial of these offenses. 

Fifth — Any other matters, cognate or ancillary to the above, which 
may arise in the course of the inquiry and which the commission 
finds it useful and relevant to take into consideration.^ 

*New York Times, January 26, 1919. 



APPENDIX C 

TEXT OF THE PROPOSED COVENANT AND DRAFT OF THE CON- 
STITUTION OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS AS READ 
BY PRESIDENT WILSON TO THE PLENARY SESSION OF 
THE PEACE CONFERENCE, FEBRUARY 14, 1919 

COVENANT 

PEEAMBLE — In order to promote international co-operation and 
to secure international peace and security by the acceptance of ob- 
ligations not to resort to war, by the prescription of open, just and 
honorable relations between nations, by the firm establishment of 
the understandings of international law as the actual rule of conduct 
among governments, and by the maintenance of .justice and a scru- 
pulous respect for all treaty obligations in the dealings of organized 
people with one another, the powers signatory to this covenant adopt 
this constitution of the League of Nations : 

AKTICLE I 

The action of the high contracting parties under the terms of this 
covenant shall be effected through the instrumentality of a meeting 
of a body of delegates repreienting the high contracting parties, of 
meetings at more frequent intervals of an Executive Council, and ol 
a permanent international secretariat to be established at the seat 
of the League. 

ARTICLE II 

Meetings of the body of delegates shall be held at stated intervals 
and from time to time, as occasion may require, for the purpose of 
dealing with matters within the sphere of action of the League. 
Meetings of the body of delegates shall be held at the seat of the 
League, or at such other places as may be found convenient, and 
shall consist of representatives of the high contracting parties. Each 
of the high contracting parties shall have one vote, but may have 
not more than three representatives. 

461 



462 APPENDIX C 



AETICLE III 



The Executive Council shall consist of representatives of the 
United States of America, The British Empire, France, Italy, and 
Japan, together with representatives of four other States, members 
of the League. The selection of these four States shall be made 
by the body of delegates on such principles and in such manner as 
they think fit. Pending the appointment of these representatives 

of the other States, representatives of shall be members of 

the Executive Council. 

Meetings of the council shall be held from time to time as occa- 
sion may require, and at least once a year, at whatever place may 
be decided on, or, failing any such decision, at the seat of the League, 
and any matter within the sphere of action of the League or affect- 
ing the peace of the world may be dealt with at such meetings. 

Invitations shall be sent to any power to attend a meeting of 
the council, at which such matters directly affecting its interests are 
to be discussed, and no decision taken at any meeting will be binding 
on such powers unless so invited. 

ARTICLE IV 

All matters of procedure at meetings of the body of delegates or the 
Executive Council including the appointment of committees to in- 
vestigate particular matters, shall be regulated by the body of dele- 
gates or the Executive Council, and may be decided by a majority 
of the States represented at the meeting. 

The first meeting of the body of delegates and of the Executive 
Council shall be summoned by the President of the United States of 
America. 

ARTICLE T 

The permanent secretariat of the League shall be established at 

, which shall constitute the seat of the League. The secretariat 

shall comprise such secretaries and staff as may be required, under 
the general direction and control of a Secretary General of the 
League, who shall be chosen by the Executive Council. The secre- 
tariat shall be appointed by the Secretary General subject to con- 
firmation by the Executive Council. 

The Secretary General shall act in that capacity at all meetings 
of the body of delegates or of the Executive Council. 

The expenses of the secretariat shall be borne by the States mem- 
bers of the League, in accordance with the apportionment of the 
expenses of the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union. 



APPENDIX C 463 

AKTICLE VI 

Representatives of the high contracting parties and officials of the 
League, when engaged in the business of the League shall enjoy 
diplomatic privileges and immunities, and the buildings occupied 
by the League or its officials, or by representatives attending its 
meetings, shall enjoy the benefits of extra-territoriality. 

ARTICLE VII 

Admission to th<^ League of States, not signatories to the covenant 
and not named in the protocol hereto as States to be invited to ad- 
here to the covenant, requires the assent of not less than two-thirds 
of the States represented in the body of delegates, and shall be lim- 
ited to fully self-governing countries, including dominions and col- 
onies. 

N"o State shall be admitted to the League unless it is able to give 
effective guarantees of its sincere intention to observe its interna- 
tional obligations and unless it shall conform to such principles as 
may be prescribed by the League in regard to its naval and military 
forces and armaments. 

ARTICLE VIII 

The high contracting parties recognize the principle that the main- 
tenance of peace will require the reduction of national armaments 
to the lowest point consistent with national safety, and the enforce- 
ment by common action of international obligations, having special 
regard to the geographical situation and circumstances of each State, 
and the Executive Council shall formulate plans for effecting such 
reduction. The Executive Council shall also determine for the con- 
sideration and action of the several Governments what military 
equipment and armament is fair and reasonable in proportion to 
the scale of forces laid down in the program of disarmament; and 
these limits, when adopted, shall not be exceeded without the per- 
mission of the Executive Council. 

The high contracting parties agree that the manufacture by pri- 
vate enterprise of munitions and implements of war lends itself to 
grave objections, and direct the Executive Council to advise how the 
evil effects attendant upon such manufacture can be prevented, due 
regard being had to the necessities of those countries which are not 
able to manufacture for themselves the munitions and implements 
of war necessary for their safety. 

The high contracting parties undertake in no way to conceal from 



464. APPENDIX C 

each other the condition of such of their industries as are capable of 
being adapted to warlike purposes or the scale of their armaments, 
and agree that there shall be full and frank interchange of infor- 
mation as to their military and naval programs. 

AETICLE IX 

A permanent commission shall be constituted to advise the League 
on the execution of the provisions of Article VIII, and on military 
and naval questions generally. 

AETICLE X 

The high contracting parties shall undertake to respect and pre- 
serve as against external aggression the territorial integrity and ex- 
isting political independence of all States members of the League. 
In case of any such aggression or in case of any threat or danger 
of such aggression the Executive Council shall advise upon the 
means by which the obligation shall be fulfilled. 

ARTICLE XI 

Any war or threat of war, whether immediately affecting any of 
the high contracting parties or not, is hereby declared a matter of 
concern to the League, and the high contracting parties reserve 
the right to take any action that may be deemed wise and effectual 
to safeguard the peace of nations. 

It is hereby also declared and agreed to be the friendly right of 
each of the high contracting parties to draw the attention of the 
body of delegates or of the Executive Council to any circumstance 
affecting international intercourse which threatens to disturb in- 
ternational peace or the good understanding between nations upon 
which peace depends. 

ARTICLE XII 

The high contracting parties agree that should disputes arise be- 
tween them which cannot be adjusted by the ordinary procerses of 
diplomacy they will in no case resort to war without previously 
submitting the questions and matters involved either to arbitration 
or to inquiry by the Executive Council and until three months after 
the award by the arbitrators or a recommendation by the Executive 
Council, and that they will not even then resort to war as against 
a member of the League which complies with the* award of the ar- 
bitrators or the recommendation of the Executive Council. 



APPENDIX C 465 

In any case under this article the award of the arbitrators shall 
be made within a reasonable time, and the recommendation of the 
Executive Council shall be made within six months after the sub- 
mission of the dispute. 

ARTICLE XIII 

The high contracting parties agree that whenever any dispute or 
difficulty shall arise between them, which they recognize to be suit- 
able for submission to arbitration and which cannot be satisfactorily 
settled by diplomacy, they will submit the whole matter to arbitra- 
tion. Eor this purpose the court of arbitration to which the case 
is referred shall be the court agreed on by the parties or stipulated 
in any covenant existing between them. The high contracting par- 
ties agree that they will carry out in full good faith any award that 
may be rendered. In the event of any failure to carry out the award 
the Executive Council shall propose what steps can best be taken 
to give effect thereto. 

ARTICLE XIV 

The Executive Council shall formulate plans for the establish- 
ment of a permanent court of international justice, and this court 
shall, when established, be competent to hear and determine any mat- 
ter which the parties recognized as suitable for submission to it for 
arbitration under the foregoing article. 

ARTICLE XV 

If there should arise between States, members of the League, any 
dispute likely to lead to rupture, which is not submitted to arbitra- 
tion as above, the high contracting parties agree that they will refer 
the matter to the Executive Council; either party to the dispute 
may give notice of the existence of the dispute to the Secretary Gen- 
eral, who will make all necessary arrangements for a full investiga- 
tion and consideration thereof. Eor this purpose the parties agree 
to communicate to the Secretary General, as promptly as possible, 
statements of their case, with all the relevant facts and papers, and 
the Executive Council may forthwith direct the publication thereof. 

Where the efforts of the council lead to the settlement of the dis- 
pute, a statement shall be published, indicating the nature of the 
dispute and the terms of settlement, together with such explanations 
as may be appropriate. If the dispute has not been settled, a report 
by the council shall be published, setting forth with all necessary 
facts and explanations the recommendation which the council think 
just and proper for the settlement of the dispute. If the report is 



^66 APPENDIX C 

unanimously agreed to by the members of the council, other than 
the parties to the dispute, the high contracting parties agree that 
they will not go to war with any party which complies with the rec- 
ommendations, and that, if any party shall refuse so to comply the 
council shall propose measures necessary to give effect to the recom- 
mendations. If no such unanimous report can be made it shall 
be the duty of the majority and the privilege of the minority to issue 
statements, indicating what they believe to be the facts, and con- 
taining the reasons which they consider to be just and proper. 

The Executive Council may in any case under this article refer 
the dispute to the body of delegates. The dispute shall be so re- 
ferred at the request of either party to the dispute, provided that 
such request must be made within fourteen days after the submis- 
sion of the dispute. In a case, referred to the body of delegates, all 
the provisions of this article, and of Article XII., relating to the ac- 
tion and powers of the Executive Council, shall apply to the action 
and powers of the body of delegates. 

ARTICLE XVI 

Should any of the high contracting parties break or disregard its 
covenants under Article XII. it shall thereby ipso facto be deemed 
to have committed an act of war against all the other members of 
the League, which hereby undertakes immediately to subject it to 
the severance of all trade or financial relations, the prohibition of 
aU intercourse between their nationals and the nationals of the cove- 
nant-breaking State and the prevention of all financial, commercial, 
or personal intercourse between the nationals of the covenant-break- 
ing States and the nationals of any State, whether a member 
of the League or not. 

It shall be the duty of the Executive Council in such case to rec- 
ommend what effective military or naval force the members of the 
League shall severally contribute to the armed forces to be used to 
protect the covenants of the League. 

The high contracting parties agree, further, that they will mu- 
tually support one another in the financial and economic measures 
which may be taken under this article in order to minimize the loss 
and inconvenience resulting from the above measures, and that they 
will mutually support one another in resisting any special measures 
aimed at one of their number by the covenant-breaking State and 
that they will afford passage through their territory to the forces of 
any of the high contracting parties who are co-operating to protect 
the covenants of the League. 



APPENDIX C 467 

AETICLE XVII 

In the event of disputes between one State member of the League 
and another State which is not a member of the League, or between 
States not members of the League, the high contracting parties 
agree that the State or States, not members of the League, shall 
be invited to accept the obligations of membership in the League 
for the purposes of such dispute, upon such conditions as the Exec- 
utive Council may deem just, and upon acceptance of any such 
invitation, the above provisions shall be applied with such modifi- 
cations as may be deemed necessary by the League. 

Upon such invitation being given the Executive Council shall 
immediately institute an inquiry into the circumstances and merits 
of the dispute and recommend such action as may seem best and 
most effectual in the circumstances. 

In the event of a power so invited refusing to accept the obli- 
gations of membership in the League for the purposes of the League, 
which in the case of a State member of the League would constitute 
a breach of Article XIL, the provisions of Article XVI., shall be 
applicable as against the State taking such action. 

If both parties to the dispute, when so invited, refuse to accept the 
obligations of membership in the League for the purpose of such 
dispute, the Executive Council may take such action and make such 
recommendations as will prevent hostilities and will result in the 
settlement of the dispute. 

AETICLE XVIII 

The high contracting parties agree that the League shall be intrust- 
ed with general supervision of the trade in arms and ammunition 
with the countries in which the control of this traffic is necessary 
in the common interest. 

ARTICLE XIX 

To those colonies and territories which, as a consequence of the 
late war, have ceased to be under the sovereignty of the States 
which formerly governed them and which are inhabited by peoples 
not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions 
of the modern world, there should be applied the principle that the 
well being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust of 
civilization and that securities for the performance of this trust 
should be embodied in the constitution of the League. 

The best method of giving practical effect to this principle is that 



468 APPENDIX C 

the tutelage of sucli peoples should be intrusted to advanced na- 
tions, who by reason of their resources, their experience, or their 
geographical position, can best undertake this responsibility, and that 
this tutelage should be exercised by them as mandatories on behalf 
of the League. 

The character of the mandate must differ according to the stage 
of the development of the people, the geographical situation of the 
territory, its economic conditions and other similar circumstances. 

Certain communities, formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire, 
have reached a stage of development where their existence as inde- 
pendent nations can be provisionally recognized, subject to the ren- 
dering of administrative advice and assistance by a mandatory 
power until such time as they are able to stand alone. The wishes 
of these communities must be a principal consideration in the se- 
lection of the mandatory power. 

Other peoples, especially those of Central Africa, are at such 
a stage that the mandatory must be responsible for the adminis- 
tration of the territory, subject to conditions which will guarantee 
freedom of conscience or religion, subject only to the maintenance 
of public order and morals, the prohibition of abuses such as the 
slave trade, the arms traffic, and the liquor traffic, and the preven- 
tion of the establishment of fortifications or military and naval 
bases and of military training of the natives for other than police 
purposes and the defense of territory, and will also secure equal 
opportunities for the trade and commerce of other members of the 
League. 

There are territories, such as Southwest Africa and certain of 
the South Pacific Isles, which, owing to the sparseness of the popu- 
lation, or their small size, or their remoteness from the centers of 
civilization, or their geographical contiguity to the mandatory State 
and other circumstances, can be best administered under the laws 
of the mandatory States as integral portions thereof, subject to the 
safeguards above mentioned in the inte-rests of the indigenous popu- 
lation. 

In every case of mandate, the mandatory State shall render to the 
League an annual report in reference to the territory committed 
to its charge. 

The degree of authority, control, or administration, to be exer- 
cised by the mandatory State, shall, if not previously agreed upon 
by the high contracting parties in each case, be explicitly defined 
by the Executive Council in a special act or charter. 

The high contracting parties further agree to establish at the 
seat of the League a mandatory commission to receive and exam- 



APPENDIX C 469 

ine the annual reports of the mandatory powers, and to assist the 
League in insuring the observance of the terms of all mandates. 

AETICLE XX 

The high contracting parties will endeavor to secure and main- 
tain fair and humane conditions of labor for men, women, and chil- 
dren, both in their own countries and in all countries to which their 
commercial and industrial relations extend; and to that end agree 
to establish as part of the organization of the League a permanent 
bureau of labor. 

AETICLE XXI 

The high contracting parties agree that provision shall be made 
through the instrumentality of the League to secure and maintain 
freedom of transit and equitable treatment for the commerce of all 
States members of the League, having in mind, among other things, 
special arrangements with regard to the necessities of the regions 
devastated during the war of 1914-1918. 

ARTICLE XXII 

The high contracting parties agree to place under the control of 
the League all international bureaus already established by general 
treaties, if the parties to such treaties consent. Eurthermore, they 
agree that all such international bureaus to be constituted in fu- 
ture shall be placed under control of the League. 

ARTICLE XXIII 

The high contracting parties agree that every treaty or interna- 
tional engagement entered into hereafter by any State member of 
the League shall be forthwith registered with the Secretary General 
and as soon as possible published by him, and that no such treaty 
or international engagement shall be binding until so registered. 

ARTICLE XXIV 

It shall be the right of the body of delegates from time to time 
to advise the reconsideration by States members of the League of 
treaties which have become inapplicable and of international con- 
ditions of which the continuance may endanger the peace of the 
world. 

ARTICLE XXV 

The high contracting parties severally agree that the present cove- 
nant is accepted as abrogating all obligations inter se which are in- 



470 APPENDIX C 

consistent with the terms thereof, and solemnly engage that they 
will not hereafter enter into any engagements inconsistent with the 
terms thereof. In case any of the powers signatory hereto or sub- 
sequently admitted to the League shall, before becoming a party 
to this covenant, have undertaken any obligations which are incon- 
sistent with the terms of this covenant, it shall be the duty of such 
power to take immediate steps to procure its release from such ob- 
ligations. 

AETICLE XXYI 

Amendments to this covenant will take effect when ratified by the 
States whose representatives compose the Executive Council and by 
three-fourths of the States whose representatives compose the body 
of delegates. 



APPENDIX D 

COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS AS EMBODIED IN 
THE TEEATY OF PEACE (SENATE DOCUMENT NO, 49, 66TH 
CONGEESS, 1ST SESSION) 

PAET I 

The high contracting parties, in order to promote international co- 
operation and to achieve international peace and security by the 
acceptance of obligations not to resort to war, by the prescription of 
open, just and honorable relations between nations, by the firm es- 
tablishment of the understandings of international law as the ac- 
tual rule of conduct among Governments, and by the maintenance 
of justice and a scrupulous respect for all treaty obligations in the 
dealings of organized peoples with one another, agree to this cove- 
nant of the League of Nations. 

AETICLE 1. — The original members of the League of Nations 
shall be those of the signatories which are named in the annex to 
this covenant and also such of those other States named in the an- 
nex as shall accede without reservation to this covenant. Such ac- 
cession shall be effected by a declaration deposited with the secre- 
tariat within two months of the coming into force of the covenant. 
Notice thereof shall be sent to all other members of the League. 

Any fully self-governing State, Dominion or Colony not named 
in the annex may become a member of the League if its admission 
is agreed to by two-thirds of the Assembly, provided it shall give 
effective guarantees of its sincere intention to observe its interna- 
tional obligations, and shall accept such regulations as may be pre- 
scribed by the League in regard to its military and naval forces and 
armaments. 

Any member of the League may, after two years' notice of its 
intention so to do, withdraw from the League, provided that all its 
international obligations and all its obligations under this covenant 
shall have been fulfilled at the time of its withdrawal. 

ARTICLE 2. — The action of the League under this covenant shall 

471 



472 APPENDIX D 

be effected through the instrumentality of an Assembly and of a 
Council, with a permanent secretariat. 

ARTICLE 3. — The Assembly shall consist of representatives of 
the members of the League. 

The Assembly shall meet at stated intervals and from time to time 
as occasion may require at the seat of the League or at such other 
places as may be decided upon. The Assembly may deal at its meet- 
ings with any matter within the sphere of action of the League or 
affecting the peace of the world. 

At meetings of the Assembly each member of the League shall 
have one vote, and may have not more than three representatives. 

ARTICLE 4. — The council shall consist of representatives of the 
principal Allied and Associated Powers, together with representatives 
of the four other members of the League. These four members of 
the League shall be selected by the assembly from time to time in 
its discretion. Until the appointment of the representatives of the 
four members of the League first selected by the assembly, represen- 
tatives of Belgium, Brazil, Spain, and Greece shall be members of 
the Council. 

With the approval of the majority of the assembly, the Council may 
name additional members of the League whose representatives shall 
always be members of the Council; the Council, with like ap- 
proval, may increase the number of members of the League to be 
selected by the assembly for representation on the Council. 

The council shall meet from time to time as occasion may re- 
quire, and at least once a year, at the seat of the League or at such 
other place as may be decided upon. 

The council may deal at its meetings with any matter within the 
sphere of action of the League or affecting the peace of the world. 

Any members of the League not represented on the council shall 
be invited to send a representative to sit as a member at any meet- 
ing of the council during the consideration of matters specially 
affecting the interests of that member of the League. 

At meetings of the council, each member of the League represented 
on the council shall have one vote, and may have not more than one 
representative. 

ARTICLE 5. — Except where otherwise expressly provided in this 
covenant or by the terms of the present treaty, decisions at any meet- 
ing of the assembly of the council shall require the agreement of 
all the members of the League represented at the meeting. 

All matters of procedure at meetings of the assembly of the coun- 
cil, including the appointment of committee to investigate particular 
jnatters, shall be regulated by the assembly or by the council and 



APPENDIX D 473 

may be decided by a majority of the League represented at the meet- 
ing. 

The first meeting of the assembly and the first meeting of the 
council shall be summoned by the President of the United States 
of America. 

AKTICLE 6. — The permanent secretariat shall be established at 
the seat of the League. The secretariat shall comprise a Secretary 
General and such Secretaries and staff as may be required. 

The first Secretary General shall be the person named in the an- 
nex. Thereafter the Secretary General shall be appointed by the 
council with the approval of the majority of the assembly. 

The Secretaries and staff of the secretariat shall be appointed by 
the Secretary General with the approval of the council. The Secre- 
tary General shall act in that capacity at all meetings of the assem- 
bly and of the council. 

The expenses of the secretariat shall be borne by the members of 
the League in accordance with the apportionment of expenses of the 
International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union. 

AETICLE 7. — The seat of the league is established at Geneva. 

The Council may at any time decide that the seat of the League 
shall be established elsewhere. 

All positions under or connecting with the League, including the 
secretariat, shall be open equally to men and women. 

Representatives of the members of the League, and officials of the 
League when engaged on business of the League, shall enjoy diplo- 
matic privileges and immunities. 

The buildings and other property occupied by the League or its 
officials or by representatives attending its meeting shall be invio- 
lable. 

ARTICLE 8. — The members of the League recognize that the 
maintenance of peace requires the reduction of national armaments 
to the lowest point consistent with national safety and the enforce- 
ment by common action of international obligations. 

The Council, taking account of the geographical situation and cir- 
cumstances of each State, shall formulate plans for such reduction 
for the consideration and action of the several Governments. 

Such plans shall be subject to reconsideration and revision at 
least every ten years. 

After these plans shall have been adopted by the several Govern- 
ments, the limits of armaments therein fixed shall not be exceeded 
without the concurrence of the Council. 

The members of the League agree that the manufacture by pri- 
vate enterprise of munitions and implements of war is open to grave 



474 APPENDIX D 

objections. The Council shall advise how the evil effects attendant 
upon such manufacture can be prevented, due regard being had to 
the necessities of those members of the League which are not able 
to manufacture the munitions and implements of war necessary for 
their safety. 

The members of the League undertake to interchange full and frank 
information as to the scale of their armaments, their naval and mili- 
tary programs and the condition of such of their industries as are 
adaptable to the warlike purposes. 

ARTICLE 9. — A permanent commission shall be constituted to 
advise the Council on the execution of the provisions of Articles 
1 and 8 and on military and naval questions generally. 

ARTICLE 10. — The members of the League undertake to respect 
and preserve as against external aggression the territorial integrity 
and existing political independence of all members of the League. 
In case of any such aggression or in case of any threat or danger of 
such aggression the Council shall advise upon the means by which 
this obligation shall be fulfilled. 

ARTICLE 11. — Any war or threat of war, whether immediately 
affecting any of the members of the League or not, is hereby de- 
clared a matter of concern to the whole League, and the League shall 
take any action that may be deemed wise and effectual to safeguard 
the peace of nations. In case any such emergency should arise the 
Secretary General shall, on the request of any member of the League, 
forthwith summon a meeting of the Council. 

It is also declared to be the friendly right of each member of the 
League to bring to the attention of the Assembly or of the Council 
any circumstance whatever affecting international relations which 
threatens to disturb international peace or the good understanding 
between nations upon which peace depends. 

ARTICLE 12. — The members of the League agree that if there 
should arise between them any dispute likely to lead to a rupture, 
they will submit the matter either to arbitration or to inquiry by the 
Council, and they agree in no case to resort to war until three months 
after the award by the arbitrators or the report by the Council. 

In any case under this article the award of the arbitrators shall be 
made within a reasonable time, and the report of the Council shall 
be made within six months after the submission of the dispute. 

ARTICLE 13. — The members of the League agree that whenever 
any dispute shall exist between them which they recognize to be suit- 
able for submission to arbitration, and which cannot be satisfactorily 
settled by diplomacy, they will submit the whole subject matter to 
arbitration. 



APPENDIX D 475 

Disputes as to the interpTetation of a treaty as to any question of 
international law as to the existence of any fact which if established 
would constitute a breach of any international obligation, or as to 
the extent and nature of the reparation to be made for any such 
breach, are declared to be among these which are generally suitable 
for submission to arbitration. 

For the consideration of any such dispute the court of arbitration 
to which the case is referred shall be the court agreed on by the 
parties to the dispute or stipulated in any convention existing be- 
tween them. 

The members of the League agree that they will carry out in full 
good faith any award that may be rendered, and that they will not 
resort to war against a member of the League which complies there- 
with. In the event of any failure to carry out such an award, the 
Council shall propose what steps should be taken to give effect 
thereto. 

AETICLE 14. — The Council shall formulate and submit to the 
members of the League for adoption plans for the establishment of 
a permanent court of international justice. The court shall be com- 
petent to hear and determine any dispute of an international char- 
acter which the parties thereto submit to it. The court may also 
give an advisory opinion upon any dispute or question referred to it 
by the Council or by the Assembly. 

ARTICLE 15. — If there should arise between members of the 
League any dispute likely to lead to a rupture, which is not sub- 
mitted to arbitration in accordance with Article 13, the members of 
the League agree that they will submit the matter to the Council. 
Any party to the dispute may effect such submission by giving notice 
of the existence of the dispute to the Secretary General, who will 
make all necessary arrangements for a full investigation and consid- 
eration thereof. 

For this purpose the parties to the dispute will communicate to 
the Secretary General, as promptly as possible, statements of their 
case with all the relevant facts and papers, and the Council may 
forthwith direct the publication thereof. 

The Council shall endeavor to effect a settlement of the dispute, 
and if such efforts are successful a statement shall be made public 
giving such facts and explanations regarding the dispute and the 
terms of settlement thereof as the Council may deem appropriate. 

If the dispute is not thus settled, the Council either unanimously 
or by a majority vote shall make and publish a report containing a 
statement of the facts of the dispute and the recommendations which 
are deemed just and proper in regard thereto. 



476 APPENDIX D 

Any member of the League reported on the Council may make pub- 
lic a statement of the facts of the dispute and of its conclusions, 
regarding the same. 

If a report by the council is unanimously agreed to by the mem- 
bers thereof other than the representatives of one or more of the 
parties to the dispute, the members of the League agree that they will 
not go to war with any party to the dispute which complies with 
the recommendations of the report. 

If the council fails to reach a report which is unanimously agreed 
to by the members thereof, other than the representatives of one or 
more of the parties to the dispute, the members of the League reserve 
to themselves the right to take such action as they shall consider 
necessary for the maintenance of right and justice. 

If the dispute between the parties is claimed by one of them, and 
is found by the council to arise out of a matter which by interna- 
tional law is solely within the domestic jurisdiction of that party, 
the council shall so report and shall make no recommendation as to 
its settlement. 

The council may in any case under this article refer the dispute 
to the assembly. The^ dispute shall be so referred at the request of 
either party to the dispute provided that such request be made 
within fourteen days after the submission of the dispute to the 
council. 

In any case referred to the assembly all the provisions of this 
article and of Article 12, relating to the action and powers of the 
council shall apply to the action and powers of the assembly, provided 
that a report made by the assembly if concurred in by the represen- 
tatives of those members of the League represented on the council 
and of a majority of the other members of the League, exclusive in 
each case of the representatives of the parties to the dispute, shall 
have the same force as a report by the council concurred in by all 
the members thereof other than the representatives of one or more 
of the parties to the dispute. 

ARTICLE 16. — Should any member of the League resort to war in 
disregard of its covenants under Articles 12, 13, or 15, it shall ipso 
facto be deemed to have committed an act of war against all other 
members of the League, which hereby undertake immediately the 
severance of all trade or financial relations, the prohibition of all 
intercourse between their nationals and the nationals of the cove- 
nant-breaking State, and the prevention of all financial, commercial, 
or personal intercourse between the nationals of the covenant-breaking 
State and the nationals of any other State, whether a member of the 
League or not. 



APPENDIX D 477 

It shall be the duty of the council in such case to recommend to 
the several Governments concerned what effective military or naval 
force the members of the League shall severally contribute to the 
armed forces to be used to protect the covenants of the League. 

The members of the League agree, further, that they will mutually 
support one another in the financial and economic measures which 
are taken under l;his article, in order to minimize the loss and incon- 
venience resulting from the above measures, and that they will mu- 
tually support one another in resisting any special measures aimed 
at one of their number by the covenant-breaking State, and that they 
will take the necessary steps to afford passage through their terri- 
tory to the forces of any of the members of the League which are 
co-operating to protect the covenants of the League. 

Any member of the League which has violated any covenant of the 
League may be declared to be no longer a member of the League by 
a vote of the council concurred in by the representatives of all the 
other members of the League represented thereon. 

ARTICLE 17. — In the event of a dispute between a member of the 
League and a State which is not a member of the League, or between 
States not members of the League, the State or States not members 
of the League shall be invited to accept the obligations of member- 
ship in the League for the purposes of such dispute, upon such con- 
ditions as the Council may deem just. If such invitation is accepted, 
the provisions of Articles 12 to 16, inclusive, shall be applied with 
such modifications as may be deemed necessary by the Council. 

Upon such invitation being given, the Council shall immediately 
institute an inquiry into the circumstances of the dispute and rec- 
ommend such action as may seem best and most effectual in the cir- 
cumstances. 

If a State so invited shall refuse to accept the obligations of mem- 
bership in the League for the purposes of such dispute, and shall 
resort to war against a member of the League, the provisions of 
Article 16 shall be applicable as against the State taking such action. 

If both parties of the dispute when so invited refuse to accept the 
obligations of membership in the League for the purposes of such 
dispute, the council may take such measures and make such recom- 
mendations as will prevent hostilities and will result in the settle- 
ment of the dispute. 

ARTICLE 18. — Every treaty or international engagement entered 
into hereafter by any member of the League shall be forthwith reg- 
istered with the Secretariat, and shall as soon as possible be published 
by it. No such treaty or international engagement shall be binding 
until so registered. 



478 APPENDIX D 

AKTICLE 19. — The Assembly may from time to time advise the 
reconsideration by members of the League of treaties which have be- 
come inapplicable and the consideration of international conditions 
whose continuance might endanger the peace of the world. 

ARTICLE 20. — The members of the League severally agree that 
this covenant is accepted as abrogating all obligations or understand- 
ings inter se which are inconsistent with the terms thereof, and sol- 
emnly undertake that they will not hereafter enter into any engage- 
ments inconsistent with the terms thereof. 

In case any member of the League shall, before becoming a member 
of the League, have undertaken any obligations inconsistent with 
the terms of this covenant, it shall be the duty of such members to 
take immediate steps to procure its release from such obligations, 

ARTICLE 21. — Nothing in this covenant shall be deemed to af- 
fect the validity of international engagements, such as treaties of ar- 
bitration or regional understandings like the Monroe Doctrine, for 
securing the maintenance of peace. 

ARTICLE 22. — To those colonies and territories which as a conse- 
quence of the late war have ceased to be under the sovereignty of 
the States which formerly governed them and which are inhabited 
by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous 
conditions of the modern world, there should be applied the principle 
that the well-being and development of such peoples form a sacred 
trust of civilization and that securities for the performance of this 
trust should be embodied in this covenant. The best method of 
giving practical effect to this principle is that the tutelage of such 
people should be intrusted to advanced nations who, by reason of 
their resources, their experience or their geographical position can 
best undertake this responsibility and who are willing to accept it, 
and that this tutelage should be exercised by them as mandataries 
on behalf of the League. 

The character of the mandate must differ according to the stage 
of the development of the people, the geographical situation of the 
territory, its economic conditions and other similar circumstances. 

Certain communities formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire 
have reached a stage of development where their existence as inde- 
pendent nations can be provisionally recognized subject to the ren- 
dering of administrative advice and assistance by a mandatory until 
such time as they are able to stand alone. The wishes of these com- 
munities must be a principal consideration in the selection of the 
mandatary. 

Other peoples, especially those of Central Africa, are at such a 
stage that the mandatary must be responsible for the administration 



APPENDIX D 479 

of the territory under conditions wliich will guarantee freedom of 
conscience and religion, subject only to the maintenance of public 
order and morals, the prohibition of abuses such as the slave trade, 
the arms traffic, and the liquor traffic, and the prevention of the 
establishment of fortifications or military and naval bases and of 
military training of the natives for other than police purposes and 
the defense of territory, and will also secure equal opportunities for 
the trade and commerce of the other members of the League. 

There are territories, such as Southwest Africa and certain of the 
South Pacific Islands, which, owing to the sparseness of their popu- 
lation, or their small size, or their remoteness from the centers of 
civilization, or their geographical contiguity to the territory of the 
mandatary, and other circumstances, can be best administered und6r 
the laws of the mandatary as integral portions of its territory, subject 
to the safeguards above mentioned in the interests of the indigenous 
populations. 

In every case of mandate, the mandatary shall render to the Coun- 
cil an annual report in reference to the territory committed to its 
charge. 

The degree of authority, control, or administration to be exercised 
by the mandatary shall, if not previously agreed upon by the mem- 
bers of the League, be explicitly defined in each case by the Council. 

A permanent commission shall be constituted to receive and ex- 
amine the annual reports of the mandataries and to advise the Coun- 
cil on all matters relating to the observance of the mandates. 

AETICLE 23. — Subject to and in accordance with the provisions 
of international conventions existing or hereafter to be agreed upon 
the members of the League: 

(A) WiU endeavor to secure and maintain fair and humane con- 
ditions of labor for men, women, and children, both in their own 
countries and in all countries to which their commercial and indus- 
trial relations extend and for that purpose will establish and main- 
tain the necessary international organizations; 

(B) Undertake to secure just treatment of the native inhabitants 
of territories under their control; 

(C) Will intrust the League with the general supervision over the 
execution of agreements with regard to the traffic in women and 
children, and the traffic in opium and other dangerous drugs. 

(D) Will intrust the League with the general supervision of the 
trade in arms and ammunition with the countries in which the con- 
trol of this traffic is necessary in the common interest; 

(E) Will make provision to secure and maintain freedom of com- 
munication and of transit and equitable treatment for the commerce 



480 APPENDIX D 

of all members of tte League. In this connection, the special ne- 
cessities of the regions devastated during the war of 1914-18 shall 
be borne in mind; 

(F) Will endeavor to take steps in matters of international con- 
cern for the prevention and control of disease. 

AETICLE 24.— There shall be placed under direction of the 
League all international bureaus already established by general trea- 
ties if the parties to such treaties consent. All such international 
bureaus and all commissions for the regulation of matters of inter- 
national interest hereafter constituted shall be placed under the di- 
rection of the League. 

In all matters of international interest which are regulated by gen- 
eral conventions but which are not placed under the control of inter- 
national bureaus or commissions, the Secretariat of the League shall, 
subject to the consent of the Council and if desired by the parties 
collect and distribute all relevant information and shall render any 
other assistance which may be necessary or desirable. 

The Council may include as part of the expenses of the secretariat 
the expenses of any bureau or commission which is placed under the 
direction of the League. 

ARTICLE 25. — The members of the League agree to encourage 
and promote the establishment and co-operation of duly authorized 
voluntary national Red Cross organizations having as purposes the 
improvement of health, the prevention of disease and the mitigation 
of suffering throughout the world. 

ARTICLE 26. — Amendments to this covenant will take effect when 
ratified by the members of the League whose representatives compose 
the council and by a majority of the members of the League whose 
representatives compose the assembly. 

No such amendment shall bind any member of the League which 
signifies its dissent therefrom but in that case it shall cease to be 
a member of the League. 

ANNEX I 

Original Members of the League of Nations Signatories of the 
Treaty of Peace 

United States of America, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, British Em- 
pire, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, India, China, 
Cuba, Ecuador, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Hedjaz, Hon- 
duras, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, 
Portugal, Rumania, Serb-Croat and Slovene State, Siam, Czecho- 
slovakia, Uruguay. 



APPENDIX D 481 

States Invited to Accede to the Covenant 

Argentine Eepublie, Chili, Colombia, Denmark, Netherlands, Nor- 
way, Paraguay, Persia, Salvador, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Vene- 
zuela. 

ANNEX II 

First Secretary General of the League of Nations 
The Honorable Sir James Eric Drummond, K C. M., G. C. B. 



APPENDIX E 

RESOLUTION OF RATIFICATION REJECTED BY THE SENATE, 
NOVEMBER 19TH, 1919 

Resolved {two-thirds of the Senators present concurring therein), 
That the Senate advise and consent to the ratification of the treaty 
of peace with Germany concluded at Versailles on the 28th day of 
June, 1919, subject to the following reservations and understandings, 
wh^'ch are hereby made a part and condition of this resolution of 
ratification, which ratification is not to take effect or bind the United 
States until the said reservations and understandings adopted by the 
Senate have been accepted by an exchange of notes as a part and a 
condition of this resolution of ratification by at least three of the 
four principal allied and associated powers, to wit, Great Britain, 
France, Italy, and Japan: 

1. The United States so understands and construes Article I. that 
in case of notice of withdrawal from the League of Nations, as pro- 
vided in said article, the United States shall be the sole judge as 
to whether all its international obligations and all its obligations 
under the said covenant have been fulfilled, and notice of withdrawal 
by the United States may be given by a concurrent resolution of the 
Congress of the United States. 

2. The United States assumes no obligation to preserve the terri- 
torial integrity or political independence of any other country or to 
interfere in controversies between nations — whether members of the 
League or not — under the provisions of Article X., or to employ the 
military or naval forces of the United States under any article of the 
treaty for any purpose, unless in any particular case the Congress, 
which, under the Constitution, has the sole power to declare war or 
authorize the employment of the military or naval forces of the 
United States, shall by act or joint resolution so provide. 

3. No mandate shall be accepted by the United States under Ar- 
ticle XXII., Part I., or any other provision of the treaty of peace 
with Germany, except by action of the Congress of the United States. 

4. The United States reserves to itself exclusively the right to de- 
cide what questions are within its domestic jurisdiction and declares 
that all domestic and political questions relating wholly or in part 

482 



APPENDIX E 483 

to its internal affairs, including immigration, labor, coastwise traffic, 
the tariff, commerce, the suppression of traffic in women and. children, 
and in opium and other dangerous drugs, and all other domestic 
questions, are solely within the jurisdiction of the United States 
and are not under this treaty to be submitted in any way either to 
arbitration or to the consideration of the Council or of the Assembly 
of the League of Nations, or any agency thereof, or to the decision 
or recommendation of any other power. 

6. The United States will not submit to arbitration or to inquiry 
by the Assembly or by the Council of the League of Nations, pro- 
vided for in said treaty of peace, any questions which in the judgment 
of the United States depend upon or relate to its long-established 
policy, commonly known as the Monroe Doctrine; said doctrine is to' 
be interpreted by the United States alone and is hereby declared to 
be wholly outside the jurisdiction of said League of Nations and en- 
tirely unaffected by any provision contained in the said treaty of 
peace with Germany. 

6. The United States withholds its assent to Articles CLVL, 
CLVIL, and CLVIII., and reserves full liberty of action with respect 
to any controversy which may arise under said articles between the 
Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. 

7. The Congress of the United States will provide by law for the 
appointment of the representatives of the United States in the As- 
sembly and the Council of the League of Nations, and may in its 
discretion provide for the participation of the United States in any 
commission, committee, tribunal, court, council, or conference, or 
in the selection of any members thereof and for the appointment of 
members of said commissions, committees, tribunals, courts, councils, 
or conferences, or any other representatives under the treaty of peace, 
or in carrying out its provisions, and until such participation and 
appointment have been so provided for and the powers and duties 
of such representatives have been defined by law, no person shall 
represent the United States under either said League of Nations or 
the treaty of peace with Germany or be authorized to perform any 
act for or on behalf of the United States thereunder, and no citizen 
of the United States shall be selected or appointed as a member of 
said commissions, committees, tribunals, courts, councils, or con- 
ferences except with the approval of the Senate of the United States. 

8. The United States understands that the Reparations Com- 
mission will regulate or interfere with exports from the United States 
to Germany, or from Germany to the United States, only when the 
United States by act or joint resolution of Congress approves such 
regulation or interference. 



48* APPENDIX E 

9. The United States shall not be obligated to contribute to any 
expenses of the League of Nations, or of the secretariat, or of any 
commission, or committee, or conference, or other agency, organized 
under the League of Nations or under the treaty or for the purpose 
of carrying out the treaty provisions, unless and until an appropria- 
tion of funds available for such expenses shall have been made by the 
Congress of the United States. 

10. If the United States shall at any time adopt any plan for the 
limitation of armament proposed by the Council of the League of 
Nations under the provisions of Article YTIL, it reserves the right 
to increase such armaments without the consent of the council when- 
ever the United States is threatened with invasion or engaged in war. 

11. The United States reserves the right to permit, in its discre- 
tion, the nationals of a covenant-breaking State, as defined in Article 
XVI. of the covenant of the League of Nations, residing within the 
United States or in countries other than that violating said Article 
XVI., to continue their commercial, financial, and personal relations 
with the nationals of the United States, 

12. Nothing in Articles CCXCVL, CCXCVIL, or in any of the 
annexes thereto or in any other article, section, or annex of the treaty 
of peace with Germany shall, as against citizens of the United 
States, be taken to mean any confirmation, ratification, or approval 
of any act otherwise illegal or in contravention of the rights of citi- 
zens of the United States. 

13. The United States withholds its assent to Part XIII. (Articles 
CCCLXXXVIL to CCCCXXVII. inclusive) unless Congress by act 
or joint resolution shall hereafter make provision for representation 
in the organization established by said Part XIII. and in such event 
the participation of the United States will be governed and condi- 
tioned by the provisions of such act or joint resolution. 

14. The United States assumes no obligation to be bound by any 
election, decision, report or finding of the Council or Assembly in 
which any member of the League and its self-governing dominions, 
colonies, or parts of empire, in the aggregate have cast more than 
one vote, and assumes no obligation to be bound by any decision, 
report, or finding of the Council or Assembly, arising out of any 
dispute between the United States and any member of the League 
if such member, or any self-governing dominion, colony, empire or 
part of empire united with it politically has voted. 



INDEX 



Abdication of the Kaiser de- 
manded, must he go? 212- 
213 ; abdication announced, 
213; his signed abdication, 
219 ; of rulers of German 
States, 233; of Queen of 
Netherlands demanded, 232. 

"Adoration of the Lamb," Ger- 
many to restore, 347. 

Agawam. Speed in building, 52. 

Age of draftees extended, 35-37. 

Albania, Claims of, 326. 

Albemarle, Lord and Lady, pre- 
sent portrait of Washington, 
104. 

Alexander, King of Greece. 
Fourth of July greetings, 105. 

Alien Property Custodian, his 
duties, 63 ; property seized by, 
64; extension of his powers, 
63, 64. 

Alliances, entangling, 309-310. 

Allies, the, call for troops, 36 
Lloyd George on the call, 49- 
50; food supply for, 54; 
Hoover's appeal, 54, 66; vol- 
untary rationing, 54r57 ; 
amount of food sent, 56. 

Allies, the, feeding, 56, 57. 

Alsace-Lorraine, 324, 345. 

Amendments proposed to League 
of Nations by neutral powers, 
312; by Mr. Taft, 312, 313, 
320, 390-391; by Senator 
Borah, 297-298; by Japan, 
312; by Switzerland, 313; by 
Mr. Hughes, 318, 320; Com- 
mittee on Foreign Relations, 



401, 403 ; majority report, 
404-405 ; lost, 419-420. 

American Defense Society, 67. 

American Library Association, 
84. 

American Protective League, 44, 
47, 48. 

American troops in Eussia, 227. 

Andrassy, Count Julian, Min- 
ister of Foreign Affairs, 199; 
appeals to Lansing, 202; re- 
signs, 205. 

Anniversary of landing of 
American troops in France, 
Poincare to President Wil- 
son, 99; Poincare to General 
Pershing, 100 ; Clemenceau to 
General Pershing, 100; Gen- 
eral Petain to Pershing, 100. 

Arab nation, 325. 

Archangel, American troops in, 
227. 

Armistice with Bulgaria, 168- 
169, 170; excitement in Ger- 
many, 173-174; in Vienna, 
175; Austria asks peace, 176; 
Germany asks peace, 176-179 ; 
the Kaiser announces peace 
offer to his army, 182 ; Presi- 
dent's reply to Germany's of- 
fer, 183 ; answer of Germany, 
187; reply of the President, 
190-192; Turkey asks peace, 
192-193 ; President answers 
Austria, 195 ; reply of Ger- 
many, 196-197; answers of 
the President, 198-199; Ger- 
many answers the President, 



485 



486 



INDEX 



200; Austria asks him to act, 
200; appeal to Lansing, 202; 
rumors of collapse of Austria 
and Germany, 202-205; Gen- 
eral Diaz delivers terms to 
Austria, 205; Austria accepts, 
206; War Council drafts 
terms for Germany, 206- 
207; Foch to deliver tliem, 
206; Memorandum on the 
terms, 206-207; the first Ger- 
man delegation, 207; false 
rumor of an armistice, 208; 
Foch notified hy the Germans, 
209-210; explanation of the 
false announcement, 210-212; 
Germany signs the Armistice, 
215; the President reads the 
terms to Congress, 222; the 
two texts compared, 222-226; 
Ebert denounces, 285; ex- 
tended, 286; effort to obtain 
modification, 292-293; Foch 
refuses, 292; protest to Foch, 
293; again extended, 328; 
anger of Germany, 329. 

Armistice, false report of, 208; 
explanation of, 210-212. 

Army — Eeg istration, June, 
1918, 32, 33; Crowder's ad- 
dress, 32-33; number regis- 
tered, 33; classification, 34; 
draft age extended, 36, 37; 
proclamation by the Presi- 
dent, 38; registration, August 
36, 37; registration in Sep- 
tember, 38, 40, 41; number 
registered, 41 ; Student Army 
Training Corps, 41-43; Al- 
lies' call for troops, 49 ; Lloyd 
George on the call, 49-50; 
movement of troops, 50 ; num- 
ber sent, 50, 51; Germans 
press on, 51; Vice Admiral 
von Capelle on, 51; French 
ports used by army, 85 ; placed 



at disposal of Marshal Foch, 
85, 86; the First Division at 
Cantigny, 88; the Marines at 
Chateau-Thierry, 89 ; foreign 
newspapers on the fight, 89- 
94; Lloyd George on Ameri- 
can soldiers, 94; Second Di- 
vision on the Marne, 88, 89 ; 
Marines take Belleau Wood, 
94-99; Celebration of anniver- 
sary of landing of our troops 
in Fl-ance, 99-101; the Ger- 
man fifth offensive, 108; 
Third Division at the Marne, 
108-110; battle line, July 
16th, 110; Allied offensive, 
July 18th, 111; First Divi- 
sion, 111-112; Second Divi- 
sion, 111-112; Fourth Divi- 
sion, 112, 115; 26th Division 
captures Torcy, Belleau, Giv- 
ry, 113; Germans evacuate 
Chateau-Thierry, 113 ; Epieds, 
113; Allied front, 114; 42d 
Division crosses the Ourcq, 
114; Sergy, 114; Fismes 
115; and Vesle crossed, 115 
St. Mihiel salient, 116-121 
King George sends congratu- 
lations, 121; Lloyd George 
and General Haig, 122 ; Poin- 
care, 122; fighting in Fland- 
ers, 124-126; Gen. Degoutte 
on, 126; near Eheims, 129; 
moved to Meuse-Argonne, 
130; first phase of the battle, 
130-132 ; the "lost Battalion," 
132; the second phase, 132- 
134; second American Army, 
135; the Armistice, 135-136; 
the march to the Ehine, 237- 
240; number of troops in 
Europe, 136; in Eussia, 227. 

Article VIII., 294. 

Article X. of the Covenant, ob- 
jections to, 295, 298, 304, 



INDEX 



487 



318, 323; 382; 390; 391; -396; 
a moral obligation, 397-398; 
U. S. not to assume obliga- 
tions under, 402; the Presi- 
dent on, 407, 411, 412, 413, 
414, 424, 425, 426, 427; bi- 
partisan conference on, 437- 
438 and note; Mr. Taft, 438, 
note; the "round robin," 443 
and note; the Senate, 447; 
the President on, 448; new 
reservations on, 449 and note. 

Article XII., 302. 

Assembly, German National, 
234, 235, 236, 253, 285, 329, 
350-352. 

Asquith, Herbert Henry, favors 
punishing of German war 
criminals, 251. 

Atrocities, German, Allied note 
on, 364-366. 

Attorney-General, explains raid 
on slackers, 46-49, 

Australia, claims of, 283; on 
League of Nations, 312-313. 

Austria, peace speech of Baron 
Burian, 148-150; his speech 
to German newspaper men, 
151-152; Austrian peace note, 
156-160; American news- 
papers on the note, 160-163; 
British journals on the note, 
163-164; Balfour, 164; Ger- 
many on the note, 165 ; Lans- 
ing's reply, 165, 166 ; German 
press on the reply, 166; Bul- 
garian Armistice, 168-170; 
excitement in Vienna, 174- 
176; Armistice asked, 176; 
Emperor to his people, 194; 
President's answer to Aus- 
trian peace offer, 195; Aus- 
tria accepts, 200; Count An- 
drassy appeals to Lansing, 
202; revolution in, 204-206; 
Armistice signed, 206. 



Automobile owners. Voluntary 
conservation of gasoline, 62- 
63. 

Balfour, Arthur J., 110, 144, 
147, 157; on Austrian note, 
164-165; favors League of 
Nations, 251. 

Barrage, The mine barrage in 
the North Sea, 30-31. 

Barrett, Dorothy, sinking by a 
submarine described, 25. 

Baseball, game on Chelsea field, 
The King present, 104. 

Bastile Day, Americans cele- 
brate, 107-108. 

Bastin, R. H., prisoner on TJK- 
140, 15, 16; describes attack 
on Diamond slioal Light Ship, 
19-20; experiences on the 
UE:-140 described, 20-21. 

Battles — Cantigny, 88 ; Chateau- 
Thierry, 89; Belleau Wood, 
94-99; on the Marne, 108- 
110; advance to the Vesle, 
113-115; St. Mihiel, 116-121; 
in Planders, 124-126; Meuse- 
Argonne, 129-135. 

Battle lines in France, April, 
May, June, 1918, 86, 87, 89. 

Belgian Army, Fourth of July 
greetings to Pershing, 106. 

Belgium, von Kuhlmann on, 
142; von Hertling on, 145, 
146; Berlin Tageblatt on, 
147; Yosdsche Zeitung on, 
147; Oermania on, 147; 
Vice-Councillor Preyer on, 
155; reported German peace 
offer to. 160; German Chan- 
cellor on, 179 ; protests against 
representation, 282; on abro- 
gation of treaty of 1839, 330. 

Belleau Wood, 94-99; called 
"Bois de la Brigade de 
Marine,'' 99. 



4<88 



INDEX 



(Bentinck, Count, Kaiser finds 
refuge in his castle, 316, 217. 

Bernstorff, Count von, 66. 

Bipartisan Conference, The, 
437-438; reservations, 443 and 
note. 

Boards, War Industries, 58 ; War 
Labor, 60, 61, 62; Sugar 
Board, 55. 

"Bois de la Brigade de Marine" 
order of General Degoutte, 99, 

Borah, William Edgar, Senator 
from Idaho, resolution on 
treaty of peace before it was 
made, 249; resolution on 
Monroe Doctrine, questions 
Mr. Taft, 297-298; receives 
copy of the treaty, 378; at- 
tempts to read it, 379 ; Borah- 
Johnson statement of confer- 
ence with the President, 397- 
399. 

Boundaries, 324, 325, 326-327, 
330; in the treaty, 345. 

Bourgeois, Leon, 270, 286. 

Bread, Victory bread, 54; ra- 
tioning, 54, 56. 

Brest, reception to the Presi- 
dent, 254-255. 

Brest-Litovsk treaty, 175. 

British Army in Picardy and 
Flanders, 1918, 85. General 
Haig "With our backs to the 
wall " 88 ; the German drives, 
85-87. 

Brockdorff-Eantzau, Count von, 
German plenipotentiary, 337; 
receives the treaty, insulting 
speech, 344; protest against 
treaty, 353-354; against ex- 
clusion from League, 354; 
note on labor and repatria- 
tion, 354; against economic 
boundary reparation terms, 
355 ; more notes, 355 ; Cabi- 
net declines to sign, 356-357; 



counter proposal, 358-359 ; 
sends protest of delegation, 
359-364. 

Bryan, William J., appeal for 
Fourth Liberty Loan, 79-80; 
speech at Jackson dinner, 435- 
436. 

Bulgaria asks an armistice, 168- 
169; German press on, 169; 
armistice signed, 170; Ger- 
man press on Bulgaria, 173- 
174; excitement in Vienna, 
175, 176; King Boris abdi- 
cates, 205-206. 

Burian, Baron, on terms of 
peace, 148-150; 151-152. 

Cabinet, The German, will not 
sign treaty, 356-357; counter 
proposal, 358-359 ; resign, 
368. 

Cables, The, taken over, 244, 
245. 

Cantigny, captured by First Di- 
vision, 88. 

Cape Cod, vessels off, sunk by 
submarine, 13. 

Capelle, Admiral von, belittles 
troop movement, 51. 

Charles, Emperor of Austria, to 
his people, 194. 

Chateau-Thierry, Third Divi- 
sion at, fight of the Marines, 
89; foreign newspapers on, 
89-94; Lloyd George on, 94. 

Chicago, raid on slackers, 45. 

Chinese, refuse to sign treaty, 
375. 

Classification of registrants, 33- 
34. 

Clemenceau, Georges, appeal for 
Fourth Liberty Loan, 80; 
congratulates Pershing, 100 ; 
on a new balance of power, 
264; chairman of Peace Con- 
ference: 273; small nations 



INDEX 



^89 



protest to, 282 ; speech on de- 
livering treaty, 343-344; an- 
swer of Btockdorff-Eantzau, 
344; German notes to, 354, 
355; sends Allies' review of 
Getrman atrocities, 364-368; 
Scapa Mow note, 372-373; 
speech at signing of the 
treaty, 374. 

Cloture, 425, 426. 

Clubs, rationed, 54, 55. 

Coal, war economy in use of, 
58 ; President appeals to min- 
ers, 58, 59. 

Coblenz, American army en- 
ters, 238-239. 

Colleges, the Student Army 
Training Corps, 41-43; vote 
on reservations to League, 
437. 

Colonies, the German Claims 
of the Allies to, 283; British 
press on, 284-285. 

Commons, the House of, Mr. 
Bonar Law announces Ameri- 
can victory, 110. 

Congress, Bill to extend draft 
age, 37; "work or fight" 
amendment, 37-38; Mr. Gom- 
pers objects, 38; the Act 
signed, 38; gives power to 
take over telephone, cable and 
telegraph lines, 62; President 
addresses on finance, 69-71 ; 
amount of money needed, 71; 
President reads text of Ar- 
mistice, 222-226 ; The Annual 
Message, December, 1918, 
246-247; the President an- 
nounces he will attend Peace 
Conference, 247 ; Senators op- 
pose, 248-249; Senator Fre- 
linghuysen on League of Na- 
tions, 248; President requests 
Congress not to discuss Lea- 
gue, 293; adjourns leaving 



business undone, protest of 
the President, 306-307; called 
in extra session, 322, 

Conscription, Industrial, "work 
or fight" order, 34, 35. 

Conservation of food, 54; Vic- 
tory bread, 54; sugar, 54, 55; 
meat, 54, 55; scarcity of 
sugar, 55; amount of food 
saved for the Allies, 56 ; Hoo- 
ver's second appeal, 56-57; of 
fuel, 58, 59; of gasoline, 62- 
63; of travel, 63. 

Counter-proposal of Germany, 
358-359. 

Creel, George, 244-245. 

Crowder, Provost Marshal Gen- 
eral. Address to registrants, 
32-33; "Work or fight" order, 
34-35 ; asks extension of draft 
age, 36, 37; on August regis- 
tration, 37; on slackers, 44. 

Crown Prince of Germany, ob- 
servation tower captured, 131 ; 
flees to Holland, 217. 

Czecho- Slovakia, 325, 345, 348, 
359. 

Daniels, Josephus, Secretary of 
Navy, on the submarine raid, 
8 ; telegram to London Times, 
8. 

Danzig, 324, 345. 

Degoutte, General, Belleau 
Wood to be called "Bois de la 
Brigade de Marine," 99 ; on 
Americans in Flanders, 126. 

Denmark, 324. Schleswig, 345. 

Devastation by the Germans, 
St. Quentin, 136; the French 
Government protests Eepara- 
tions Committee, 136-137 ; 
United States protests, 138. 

Diaz, General, receives Bulgar- 
ia's offer of peace, 168-170; 
delivers terms to Austria, 



490 



INDEX 



205; signs Austrian Armis- 
tice, 206. 

Director General of Eailroads, 
asks people not to travel, 63. 

Domestic and political issues re- 
served, 403, 417. 

Dover, welcome to President, 
260. 

Draft of June, 1918, 32; Gen- 
eral Crowder's address to reg- 
istrants, 32-33; number reg- 
istered, 33; classification, 34; 
"work or fight" order, 34-35 ; 
age limit extended, 36; proc- 
lamation by the President, 38 ; 
registration, August 24th, 39 ; 
registration, September 12th, 
38, 39, 40; the drawing, 41. 

Earle, Ealph, Eear Admiral, 31. 

East Prussia, 330, 345. 

Ebert, Frederich, 222; appeals 
for food, 230 ; in power, 233 ; 
denounces Armistice, 285 ; 
President of Germany, 286; 
denounces the treaty, 351-352. 

Eightieth Division in the Ar- 
gonne, 130. 

Eighty-Second Division, 119 ; in 
the Argonne, 130. 

Eighty-Ninth Division, 119. 

"Emblem and Conscience Day," 
81. 

Emergency Fleet Corporation, 
51, 52. 

Emmanuel, King of Italy, 
Fourth of July greetings, 105. 

Employment Service, The Unit- 
ed States, 60, 61. 

Erzberger, Mathias, heads arm- 
istice commission, 209; signs 
Armistice, 214-215 ; seeks 
modification of, 292; protests 
to Foch, 292-293. 

Exemption from war service, 
34. 



Fabricated ships, 52. 

Fall, Albert B., Senator — New 
Mexico, 400; amendment ex- 
cluding U. S. from represen- 
tation on commissions, 415, 
416. 

Farewell Address, Washington's, 
309-310, 317. 

Fifth Division, 119. 

Fifty-Second Division, 113 ; 
forced passage of the Ourcq, 
114; takes Sergy, 114; at St. 
Mihiel, 119; in the Argonne, 
135. 

Finances, The President ad- 
dresses Congress on, 70-71; 
amount of money needed, how 
to be raised, 71; Eed Cross 
drive, 71-74; War Chest in 
Philadelphia, 71-74; War Sav- 
ings Stamps, 74; the Presi- 
dent's appeal, 74-75; amount 
sold, 76; Fourth Liberty 
Loan, 76-77; the President's 
appeal, 78, 79; Mr. Bryan's 
appeal, 79-80 ; Clemenceau's 
appeal, 80; drive in Phila- 
delphia, 81-82; oversubscrip- 
tion, 83; United War Work 
Campaign, 84; Victory Loan, 
'84. 

Finland, 274. 

First Division, training in 
France, 87; captures Cantig- 
ny, 88 ; London Times on, 88 
move to west of Soissons, 111 
fighting, July 18-21, 111-112 
at St. Mihiel, 119 ; in the Ar- 
gonne, 130. 

Fiume, 326-327; the President 
asked to arbitrate, 327 ; irrita- 
tion in Italy, 332; delegates 
to conference threaten to with- 
draw, 332, 335, 336; delegates 
leave, 338; the President on 
the issue, 338-339; Orlando 



INDEX 



491 



replies, 339-340; London press 
on, 340-341 ; feeling in Eome, 
341-342 ; President's mem- 
orandum, 444-445; the press 
on, 444-446. 

Flags, French battle flags to be 
restored, 347; burned, 372. 

Flanders, American Army in, 
126. 

Fleet, surrender of the German, 
240-241. 

Foch, Marshal, American Army 
placed at his disposal, 85-87; 
German delegation to receive 
terms of Armistice, 208; be- 
gins offensive, 110; received, 
208-209 ; Armistice signed, 
214-215 ; Germany protests 
to, 292-293. 

Food conservation week, 267; 
Congress asked for money to 
feed Europe, 267; Europe's 
need of, 267-269. 

Food, Hoover on supply, 54; 
conservation of, 54; ration- 
ing of clubs, hotels, restau- 
rants and homes, 54, 55; 
causes of scarcity of sugar, 
55; saving of food effected, 
56; shipments to the Allies, 
56; restrictions lifted, 56. 
Hoover's second appeal, 56, 
57. 

Foreign-born citizens, sign a 
Declaration of Independence, 
103. 

"Four Point Speech" of the 
President, 101-102. 

Fourth Division, fighting with 
the French, 112, 115; at St. 
Mihiel, 119; in the Argonne, 
130. 

Fourth of July, great launch- 
ing, 53, 54; Wilson's Four 
Point Speech, 101-102; cele- 
bration in Philadelphia, 102- 



103; Lloyd George to Persh- 
ing, 103 ; greetings from the 
Biiritiish airmy, 103; King 
George at Chelsea, 104 
Washington's portrait, 104 
greetings from Poincare, 104 
from King of the Belgians, 
King of Italy, King of 
Greece, 105; Joffre, the Bel- 
gian Army, Lord Eeading, 
Mayor of Meux, 106; Tar- 
dieu, 106; celebrations at 
Eome, Turin, Florence, Ge- 
noa, etc., 107. 

"Fourteen Points," 351, 352, 
356, 357, 358. 

France, our troops carried in 
French ships, 50, note; ports 
used by our army, 85 ; Ameri- 
can Army at disposal of 
Foch, 85-86; German drives, 
86-87, 108; fighting in, 85- 
140; German devastation in, 
136-139; Foch and the arm- 
istice, 208-212, 214-215; re- 
covers Alsace-Lorraine, 224; 
troops in Russia, 227; the 
President reaches Brest, 254 
speech of the Mayor, 254-255 
reception in Paris, 255 
speech of President Poin- 
care, 255-257; reply, 258; 
Sorbonne confers degrees, 
259; Peace Conference opens, 
273; disposition of territory 
west of the Ehine, 331; Ger- 
man war ships, 329-330; 
treaty not severe enough, 
348; Lloyd George and Wil- 
son to seek to pledge their 
countries to aid, 348; Wil- 
son's farewell to, 376; Clem- 
enceau refuses to make treaty 
public, 378; Bon Soir sends 
copies to Chamber, 378; rati- 
fies treaty, 429; violated by 



492 



INDEX 



Germany, 429-430; Germajiy 

to sign new protocol, 431- 

433. 
Freedom of the Seas, Viscotmt 

Grey on, 251-252. 
Fuel, voluntary war economy, 

heatless nights, 58; President 

appeals to coal miners, 59; 

conservation of gasoline, 62- 

63. 

Gasoline, voluntary conserva- 
'tion of, 62-63. 

Geddes, Sir Auckland, punish- 
ment of Germany, 251. 

German Colonies, Claims of the 
Allies to, 283. 

German language, opposition to 
its use, libraries withdraw 
books, 67; names disused, 67; 
opposition to publication of 
newspapers, to teaching, 67. 

German property confiscated, 
63-64. 

Germans interned, 69. 

Germany, peace speeches of von 
Klihlmann and von Hertling, 
141-147; newspapers on the 
Belgian issue, 147; Kaiser's 
speech at Essen, 158-153 ; 
Vice-Chancellor Praeger on 
peace, 154-156; on Austria's 
peace note, 165 ; von Hertling 
on U. S. answer to peace 
note, 166-168. Press on Bul- 
garian Armistice, 173-174; 
von Hertling and von 
Hintze resign, 174; the Kai- 
ser to the Fatherland Party, 
174; new cabinet, 174; asks 
armistice, 176; peace speech 
of Maxmilian, 177-179; the 
Kaiser announces offer to the 
army, 182 ; reply of the Presi- 
dent, 183; answer of Ger- 
many, 187; Turkey asks an 



armistice, 192-193; Germany 
answers the President, 196- 
197; reply of the President, 
198-199; answer, 200; con- 
ditions of, 203 ; demand for 
abdication of the Kaiser, 203 ; 
War Council drafts terms, 
206-207; Foch to deliver 
them, 206; memorandum on 
the terms, 206-207; feeling 
in Germany, 207; Foch noti- 
fied of coming of delegation, 
209-210; must the Kaiser go? 
212-213; his abdication an- 
nounced, 213; sailors' meet- 
ing, 214; Workmen and Sol- 
diers' Council, 214; the revo- 
lution spreads, 214; the Arm- 
istice signed, 214-215; Kai- 
ser flees to Holland, 215-216; 
story of the flight, 216-217; 
demand for extradition, 218- 
219 ; signed abdication, 219 ; 
the Crown Prince, 220; the 
Kaiser talks, 220; revolution 
in Berlin, 221; a government 
set up, 221-222 ; terms of the 
Armistice, 222-226; National 
Council of Women of Ger- 
many appeal to Mr. Wilson, 
228-229; Solf appeals, 229; 
Ebert asks for food, 230; an- 
swer of the President, 230; 
appeals from Solf, 230, 231; 
abdication of German Dukes, 
233; the Provisional Govern- 
ment, 233 ; Workmen and 
Soldiers' Councils, 234, 235; 
Congress of Councils meets, 
235; surrender of submarines 
and High Seas Fleet, 240- 
241; Allies enter, 237-240; 
Lloyd-George on punishment 
of the Kaiser, 250; Mr. As- 
quith on, 251 ; Sir A. Geddes 
on, 251; political disorder, 



INDEX 



493 



253; Assembly to meet at 
Weimar, 253 ; Ebert denounc- 
es Armistice, 285 ; Provisional 
Constitution adopted, 286 ; 
Ebert, President, 286; con- 
tinuation of Armistice, 286; 
292-293; 328-329; anger of 
the Assembly, 329; Naval 
terms in the treaty, 329 ; rep- 
aration, 328, 336; extradition 
of the Kaiser, 336; plenipo- 
tentiaries to go to Versailles, 
337; insulting action, 337; 
treaty delivered, speech of 
Clemenceau, 343-344; reply 
of Brockdorff-Eantzau, 344 ; 
terms of the treaty, 345-348; 
the Emperor arraigned, 346- 
347; reparation, 347; mer- 
chant ships, 347; coal, 347; 
the Koran, skull of the Sul- 
tan, Erench battle flags to be 
restored, 347; Library at 
Louvain, 347; Kiel Canal, 
348 ; dismay over treaty, 348-' 
350; Scheidermann denounc- 
es treaty, 350-351; Ebert on 
treaty, 352; Erzberger on, 
352-253; Brockdorff-Eantzau 
notes on the treaty, 353-355; 
Cabinet will not sign, 356- 
357; counter proposal, 358- 
359; observations of the dele- 
gation on the treaty, 359-364; 
Allies review her war con- 
duct, 364-368; must sign 
within seven days, 368; Cabi- 
net resign, 368; Assembly 
vote to accept treaty, 369; 
time asked and refused, 369; 
will sign with reservations, 
369-370; accepts the treaty, 
371; fleet at Scapa Flow 
sunk, 371-372; French battle 
flags burned, 372; Clemen- 
ceau'^ note on sinking, 372- 



373; treaty signed at Ver- 
sailles, 374-375 ; Chinese dele- 
gates do not sign, 375; Smuts 
signs under protest, 375; vio- 
lates treaty, 429-430; sum- 
moned to sign new protocol, 
431; reply, 431-432; ratifica- 
tions exchanged, 432. 

Germany sends submarines to 
our coast, 1-31, Propaganda, 
64-66; demands release of 
Franz von Eintelen, 67-68; 
answer of Lansing, 68-69; 
German drive, March, 1918, 
85-86; second offensive, 86; 
third offensive, 86-87; fourth 
offensive, 87; fifth offensive, 
108. 

Great Britain. Lloyd George 
on the movement of Ameri- 
can troops by, 49-50; num- 
ber carried by, 50 note; the 
German drives, 86-87; "With 
our backs against the wall," 
86; French and British at- 
tack along Albert-Montdidier 
front, 115-116; battle froni 
at end of August, 116; Brit- 
ish in Macedonia, 123; Bul- 
garian Armistice, 123; attack 
between Dixmude and Ypres, 
123; take Cambrai, 139; sur- 
render of German fleet to, 
240-241; delegates to Peace 
Conference, 242 ; Lloyd 
George on punishing the 
Kaiser, 250; Mr. Balfour on 
League of Nations, 251; Mr. 
Asquith on punishing the 
guilty, 251 ; Sir A. Geddes on 
reparation, 251 ; Viscount 
Grey on Freedom of the Seas, 
251-253; the President at 
Dover, 260; at London, 260; 
welcomed by King George, 
261; President's reply, 262; 



494 



INDEX 



Guildhall speech, 253-264; at 
Carlisle, 264; press opposes 
Prinkipo Conference, 275- 
276; secret treaty with Ja- 
pan, 283; the German colo- 
nies, 283-284; on reparation, 
328; secret treaty wth Italy, 
327; to aid France if at- 
tacked, 348. 

Greece, claims of, 325. 

Grey, Viscount, on Freedom of 
the Seas and League of Na- 
tions, 251-252; letter on ac- 
tion of the U. S. 439-440. 

Hague tribunal. The, Germany 
proposes to refer Scapa Flow 
incident to, 431. 

Haig, Field Marshal, Sir Doug- 
las, "With our backs to the 
wall," 88; Fourth of July 
greetings, 103 ; on St. Mihiel, 
122. 

Haimhausen, Haniel von, asks 
extension of time limit, 369 ; 
treaty will be signed, 371. 

Hale, Frederick, Senator, 
Maine, offers amendment, 
426, 428. 

Heligoland, 329, 345. 

Hertling, Count von, peace 
speech, 143-147; Belgium, a 
"pawn,'' 145, 146; on the 
President's Fourteen Points, 
166-168; resigns, 174. 

Hindenburg line, 124, 125. 

Hintze, Admiral von, 144; on 
Bulgarian armistice, 169; re- 
signs, 174; armistice, 208, 
210. 

Hirano Maru, sunk by subma- 
rine, 190. 

Hirsch, Premier, "mailed fist 
peace," 349. 

Hitchcock, Gilbert M., Senator 
from Nebraska, plan for vot- 



ing on the treaty, 421-423; 
states views of the President, 
427; seeks ratification with- 
out amendments, 429; asks 
suspension of Eule 13, 439. 

Hog Island, 52. 

Holland, German Kaiser flees 
to, 215-217; explains his 
status, 218 ; appoints commis- 
sion, 220; the Crown Prince 
in, 217; abdication of Queen 
demanded, 232. 

Hoover, Herbert C, on food 
conservation, 54; second ap- 
peal, 56, 57; on the food sit- 
uation in Europe, 57; new 
appeal, 56-58; the food situ- 
ation, 58; in charge of food 
supply for Europe, 231; ex- 
plains the situation, 232 ; asks 
aid for Europe, 267; the 
President appeals to Con- 
gress, 267; describes condi- 
tion of Europe, 267-269; 
food cargoes, 269. 

Hotels and Eestaurants ra- 
tioned, 54. 

Hungary, 202-203 ; Karolyi's 
plan for independence, 204; 
revolution in, 204-205. 

Interpretations, the President 
on, 412. 

Interpreters for registrants, 40. 

Ireland — Senate reservation on, 
450. 

Isaacs, Lieutenant, 2. 

Italian front, 140; Austrian 
Armistice, 140. 

Italy, fighting in, 140; visit of 
the President at Eome, 264- 
266; dispute over Fiume, 
326-327; the President asked 
to arbitrate, 327 ; feeling over 
Fiume, 332, 335, 336; dele- 
gates leave Paris, 338; the 



INDEX 



495 



President on the Adriatic 
question, 338-339; reply of 
Oriando, 339; feeling in 
Eome, 341-342. 

Jackson Day dinner, 433-434; 
the President's letter, 434- 
435. 

Japan — delegates at Peace Con- 
ference, 371; claims Marshal 
and Caroline Islands, 283; 
secret treaty with England, 
283; offers amendment to 
Covenant, 312 ; Shantung 
treaty, 387-389. 

Jefferson, Thomas, "entang- 
ling alliances," 310. 

Jennings, The 0. B., sunk by 
UK-140, 14-15. 

Jewish Welfare Board, 84. 

Joffre, General, 106. 

Johnson, Hiram, W. 419, 420. 

July, Fourth of, great launch- 
ing, 53, 54; Wilson's "Four 
point speech," 101-102 ; 
Foreign Countries observe, 
103-107. 

June 13, observed abroad, 99- 
101. 

Kadish, American troops, 227. 

Karolyi, Count, on Wilson's 
peace terms, 151. 

Kiel — sailors' mutiny, 214-222. 

Kiel Canal, 329. 

King of the Belgians. Greet- 
ings on July 4, 105. 

Knights of Columbus, 72, 84. 

Knox, Philander C, Senator 
from Pennsylvania opposes 
League, 303-305; opposed to 
the Covenant, 380; resolu- 
tion offered by, 433. 

Koran, Germany to restore, 347. 

Kuhlmann, Dr. Kichard von, 
peace speech, 141-143; on 
Belgium, 142; resigns, 144. 



Labor. Scarcity of unskilled, 
60; proclamation forbidding 
recruiting unskilled, 60-61 ; 
United States Employment 
Service, 61, 62. 

La Follette, Robert, M. offers 
amendment to Covenant, 422. 

Lansing, Eobert, Secretary of 
State, reply to Germany's de- 
mand for release of von Pin- 
telen, 69; protests against 
German devastation, 138; the 
Austrian peace offer, 176; 
the German offer, 176-177, 
179; answers German offer, 
183; Solf replies, 187; an- 
swers Germany, 191-192; re- 
ceives Turkey's request, 192- 
193; answers Austria, 195; 
receives Germany's answer, 
196-197; replies to German 
note, 198-199; Germany's an- 
swer, 200; receives Austria's 
reply, 200; appeal from An- 
drassy, 202 ; notifies Germany 
Foch will arrange armistice, 
206; memorandum on arm- 
istice, 206-207; Solf appeals 
for food, 230, 231; reply to 
Solf, 231. 

"Last Supper," Germany to re- 
store, 347. 

Launchings on July 4, 53. 

Law, Andrew Bonar, 110; dele- 
gate to Peace Conference, 
242. 

League for the Preservation of 
American Independence, on 
the Covenant, 318. 

League of Nations. Pi-esident 
Wilson, 259, 263, 278-279; 
urges in Peace Conference, 
281; Lloyd George urges, 
280; action of the Confer- 
ence, 270, 286; Preamble 
adopted, 285; President reads 



496 



INDEX 



draft of to Peace Conference, 
287; provision of, 287-289; 
President's speech on, 289- 
292; President requests Con- 
gress not to debate, 293 ; feel- 
ing in the Senate, 293-296; 
discussed in Senate, 296-297; 
Senator Borah and Mr. Taft, 
297-298; Senator Eeed on, 
299 ; President speaks in Bos- 
ton, 299-301; White House 
conference, 301; Senate de- 
bate, 301-303; Senator Knox 
opposes, 303-305; Senator 
Lodge's "Pound Eobin," 305- 
306; speeches of the Presi- 
dent and Mr. Taft at New 
York, 307-310; will be part 
of treaty, 310, 311, 312; 
Lord Cecil on, 311-312 ; neu- 
tral nations offer amend- 
ments, 312; racial equality, 
312-313; Mr. Taft's amend- 
ments, 313; complaint of de- 
lay, 314; answer of the Presi- 
dent, 314; Lodge-Lowell de- 
bate, 315-318; Covenant bad- 
ly drawn, 303, 316, 317; 
Mr. Hughes proposes seven 
amendments, 318; Mr. Eoot 
proposes six, 319; revised, 
320; article on Monroe Doc- 
trine inserted, 320; League 
to Enforce Peace approved, 
322; revised by Conference, 
321; adopted, 321; Mr. 
Lodge asks Senators to with- 
hold expressions of opinions, 
322; League to Enforce 
Peace, 322; The League of 
Nations part of peace treaty, 
345; Germany on her exclu- 
sion, 354, 358, 360, 361, 368; 
the President on, 385, 386; 
Mr. Taft proposes six amend- 
ments, 390-391 ; conference 



with the President, 395-397; 
Senators Borah and Johnson 
report on conference, 397- 
399 ; treaty reported with res- 
ervations and amendments, 
401-405; debate on, 416-428; 
ratification lost, 429; the 
President stands firm, 432 ; 
Knox resolutions, 433; the 
Jackson Day dinner, 433; 
the President's letter, 434- 
435; Bryan's speech at the 
dinner, 435-436 ; resolutions 
of twenty-six organizations, 
436-437; vote in the Univer- 
sities and colleges, 437; the 
bipartisan Conference, 437- 
438 ; and note ; Eule 13 to be 
suspended, 439 ; Viscount 
Grey's letter, 439-440; Sena- 
tor Hitchcock to the Presi- 
dent, 441; his five reserva- 
tions, 442, note; the Presi- 
dent's reply, 441-443; Eule 
13 suspended, 443 ; the Cove- 
nant again before the Senate, 
443 ; the "Eound Eobin," 443 
and note; action of the Sen- 
ate, 447; the President on 
Article X., 448-449 ; new res- 
ervations, 449 and notes, 450 ; 
on Ireland, 450; treaty re- 
jected and returned to the 
President, 451. 

League of Free Nations, on the 
Covenant, 319. 

Leinster, sunk by submarine, 
190. 

Leopold, Prince of Lippe-Det- 
wold abdicates, 233. 

Liberty Loan, The fourth, the 
drive in New York City, 76- 
78; difficulties in raising, 79 
the President's appeal, 78, 79 
Mr. Bryan's appeal, 79-80 
Clemenceau's appeal, 80 



INDEX 



^97 



Philadelphia's drive, 81 ; 
"Flag Day," "Preparation 
Day," 81 ; "Emblem and Con- 
science Day," "PershilQg 
Day," 81; 'Tor Your Boy 
and Mine," 83; amount 
raised, 83; second appeal of 
the President, 83 ; oversub- 
scription, '-83 ; President's 
speech, 170-173. 

Library, Germany to make rep- 
aration for destruction of 
University of Louvain, 347. 

Libraries, withdraw German 
books, 67. 

Lightless nights, 58. 

Limit Clubs, 75. 

Lloyd George, David, On call 
for our troops, 49-50; on our 
ship building, 53; on Ameri- 
can troops, 94; Fourth of 
July Greetings, 103; on St. 
Mihiel, 122; on indictment 
of the Kaiser, 219; on pun- 
ishment of, 250; speech be- 
fore Peace Conference, urges 
League, 280; on slowness of 
the Peace Conference, 334- 
335; pledges aid to France, 
348. 

Lodge, Senator Henry Cabot. 
Defends Navy Department, 
7-8; Eesolutions on League 
of Nations, 305-306; debate 
with Lowell, 315-318; asks 
Senators to withhold expres- 
sion of opinion on League, 
322; sees copy of treaty, 378; 
presents report of majority 
of Committee with reserva- 
tions and amendments, 401- 
403; secures cloture, 425, 
426 ; resolution declaring state 
of peace, 429 ; on rejection of 
treaty, 432, 433 ; asks suspen- 
sion of Eule 13, 439. 



London, Welcome to President 
Wilson, 260; Speech of King 
George, 261; answer of the 
President, 262; freedom of 
the city, 263. 

"Lost Battalion," 132. 

Louvain, University professors 
appeal, 420-421; Germany to 
make reparation for destruc- 
tion of library, 347. 

Lowell, Abbott Lawrence, de- 
bates Covenant with Senator 
Lodge, 315-318. 

Ludwig II. of Bavaria, abdi- 
cates, 233. 

Luxemburg, Duchess of, will 
abdicate, 233 ; American 
Army enters, Pershing's proc- 
lamation, 238; free from 
German customs Union, 345. 

Macedonia, Allied offensive, 
123 ; Bulgarian armistice, 
123. 

Mail, The New York Evening, 
bought by German Govern- 
ment, 64. 

Manchester, gives President 
freedom of city, 264. 

March, Gen. Peyton C, address 
to Student Army Training 
Corps, 43. 

Marines at Chateau-Thierry, 
89; foreign newspapers on 
the fight, 89-94; Lloyd 
George on, 94; take Belleau 
Wood, 94-99; "Bois de la 
Brigade de Marine," 99. 

Marne Salient, the fight of 
Marines at Chateau-Thierry, 
89; foreign newspapers on 
the battle, 90-94; Lloyd 
George on, 94; Second Di- 
vision on the Marne, 94; the 
battle of the Marne, 108-111; 
Pershing on, 109; London 



498 



INDEX 



press on, 109-110; the ad- 
vance of the Americans from 
the Marne to the Vesle, 108- 
115; Vesle crossed, 115. 

Maximilian of Baden, 173j 
Speech on Germany's peace 
note, 177-179. 

Meat, rationing, 54, 55. 

Mecklenburg- Schwerin, 233. 

Merak, sunk by U.K.-140, 16, 
19. 

Merchant marine, 51. 

Meuse-Argonne battle, the 
ground and defenses, 129; 
Argonne forest, 129-130; po- 
sition of the army, 130; first 
phase, 130-132; Montfaucon, 
130, 131; the Crown Prince's 
tower, 131; prisoners, 131; 
obstructions, 131 ; "Lost Bat- 
talion," 132; end of first 
phase, 132 ; Kriemhilde Line, 
132; advance east of Meuse, 
133; Argonne forest cleared, 
133; Grand Pre, 134; end of 
second phase, 134; Preya 
Stellung, 134; Meuse crossed, 
135; opposite Sedan, 135; 
number of enemy divisions 
and prisoners, 135 ; Armistice, 
136. 

Meux, greetings from, 106. 

Military terms to Germany, 
330, 346. 

Mirlo, sunk by U-117, 26-27. 

Monroe Doctrine, Senator Bor- 
ah's resolution, 249 ; ques- 
tions Mr. Taft on Monroe 
Doctrine, 297-298 ; the 
League and the Doctrine, 
294, 295, 296, 299, 301, 302- 
303, 311, 312, 313, 315, 317, 
318; inserted in revised 
Covenant, 320, 321, 322, 381, 
391, 395; U. S. not to sub- 
mit for arbitration any ques- 



tion under, 402-403, 405, 
413, 414, 438, 442 note. 
Murmansk, American troop at, 

227. 

National Assembly, The Ger- 
man meets, 234, 235, 236, 
253, 285, 329. Treaty of 
peace denounced before, 350- 
353. 

National Council of Women of 
Germany to Mrs. Wilson, 
228. 

Naval Terms to Germany, 329, 
330, 346. 

Navy Department, The submar- 
rine raid off our coast, 7-8; 
Senator Lodge defends, 7-8. 

Navy, The German, surrendered, 
240-241. 

Navy, vessels of, 30; where 
used, 30; the mine barrage 
in North Sea, 30-31; move- 
ment of troops by, 31; ves- 
sels lost, 31. 

New York City. The draft, 
40-41 ; foreign languages 
spoken in, 40; Round up of 
slackers, 45-49 ; Germans buy 
Evening Mail, 64; "Soldiers 
in France Day," 76; Fourth 
Liberty Loan Drive, 76-77; 
President opens drive, 78; 
his "five point" speech, 170- 
173; receives Self's peace 
note, 187. 

Newspaper, The German — on 
submarine sinkings, 8-10 ; 
story of a German submarine 
captain, 10-13. 

Newspapers. Voluntary war 
economy, 58; Germans buy 
N. Y. Evening Mail, 64; As- 
sociation of Foreign Lan- 
guage, 65, 66; Fair Play 66; 
foreign on Chateau-Thierry, 



INDEX 



499 



89-94; on the Marne victory, 
109-110; German on Bel- 
gium, 147; Count Karolyi to 
German newspaper men on 
terms of peace, 151-152; 
American on Austrian peace 
note, 160-163; British on the 
note, 163, 164; Germany on 
President's answer, 166; Ger- 
many on Bulgarian Armis- 
tice, 169, 173-174, 175; 
America on Germany's peace 
offer, 180; French on, 181; 
America on President's an- 
swer, 186; on Solf's reply, 
188; Paris papers, 189; Lon- 
don papers on, 190; on Mar- 
mora Conference, 275-276 ; 
on German Colonies, 283- 
284; Germany on the treaty, 
349. 

Niblock, Eear Admiral Albert 
Parker, 30. 

Nineteenth Division, 119. 

Ninety-first Division in Fland- 
ers, 126-129 ; praised by Gen- 
eral Degoutte, 126; in the 
Argonne, 130. 

Ninety-second Division, in the 
Argonne, 130, 

Non-essential workers, 35. 

Notes, concerning peace, Aus- 
trian, 156-160; Germany re- 
plies to, 165; United States 
replies to, 165, 166; Austrian 
peace offer, 176; Germany 
asks peace, 176-179; Kaiser 
announces offer, 182; Presi- 
dent's note to Germany, 183; 
reply of Germany, 187; re- 
ply to Germany, 190-192; 
Turkey asks peace, 193; 
President's note to Austria, 
195; reply of Germany, 196- 
197; President's note to Ger- 
many, 198-199 ; reply of Ger- 



many, 200; Austria accepts, 
200; Count Andrassy to 
Lansing, 202; the Allies on 
the notes, 206-207. 

Offensives. German, 86; of 
April, 8, 86; of May 27, 86- 
87 ; of June, 87 ; the German 
front, 87; French offensive, 
July 18, 14. 

Oldenburg, Grand Duke of, ab- 
dicates, 233. 

Orlando, Vittorio, 221, 242, 
271, 338, 339-340. 

Patriotic Order of Sons of 
America, 67. 

Peace, von Kiihlmann reopens 
discussion, 141-142; Chancel- 
lor von Hertling's speech, 
143-147 ; German newspap- 
ers on Belgian issue, 147; 
Baron Burian replies to the 
President's Fourth of July 
speech, 148-150-151-152; the 
Kaiser speaks, 152-153 ; Vice-^ 
Chancellor Preyer, 154-156; 
Austrian peace note, 156-160; 
the newspapers on the note, 
160-163; British press, 163; 
Balfour, 164; Germany re- 
plies to note, 165; United 
States replies, 165, 166; von 
Hertling on the answer, 166- 
168. President's Five Point 
Speech, Sept. 27, 1918, 170- 
173 ; Bulgarian armistice, 
168-170; German press on, 
173-174; excitement in Vi- 
enna, 175, 176; peace rum- 
ors; Austrian peace offer to 
President Wilson, 176; Ger- 
many asks peace, 176-179; 
opposition in the United 
States, 180; in France, 181; 
the Kaiser announces the of- 



500 



INDEX 



fer to the army, 183; Presi- 
dent's reply to Germany's of- 
fer, 183. Opposition to Ger- 
man peace in United States 
Senate, 183-185. Eeply of 
Germany, 187. Answer to 
Germany, 190-192 ; Turkey 
seeks peace, 192-193; Presi- 
dent's answer to Austria's 
peace offer, 195 ; reply of Ger- 
many, 196-197; President's 
answer, 198-199; reply of 
Germany, 200; Austria ac- 
cepts, 200; Armistice with 
Turkey signed, 204; Foch 
delivers terms to Germany, 
206; Germany signs, 215; 
flight of the Kaiser, 215-217; 
the President reads terms of 
Armistice to Congress, 222- 
226; Germany asks early 
peace conference, 230; mem- 
hers of the Conference, 242; 
first meeting, 242; the Presi- 
dent will attend, 242 ; his go- 
ing opposed, 242, 243-245; 
the peace conference, 270- 
348; the peace treaty, 348- 
451. 
Peace Conference, 242; prelimi- 
nary work, 270-271; secrecy, 
272; protest of American 
newspapers, 272; first meet- 
ing, 273; method of proce- 
dure, 273; President's speech, 
278-280; urges League of 
Nations, 279; Lloyd George 
on League, 280 ; action of the 
Conference, 281; commissions 
appointed, 281 ; protest of the 
small nations and Belgium, 
282; draft of the League, 
285; President reads cove- 
nant to Conference, 286-289; 
President's speech, 289-292; 
neutral nations offer amend- 



ments to covenant, 312; Ja- 
pan amendment, 312; Switz- 
erland's, 313 ; League revised, 
313, 320; article on Monroe 
Doctrine, 320 ; revision adopt- 
ed, 321; Conference at Prin- 
kipo, 274y, 276-277; 325; 
Czechs and Poles, 325; 
claims of Greece, 325; of Al- 
bania, 326; Fiume, 326-327; 
reparation, 328; Armistice 
continued, 328; naval terms, 
329; destruction of German 
war ships, 329-330; military 
terms, 330; Shantung, 330; 
Poland, Danzig, East Prus- 
sia, 330; responsibility for the 
war 330-331 ; the Ehine, 331 ; 
Italian claims, 332; Italian 
delegates threaten to with- 
draw, 332 ; demand for speed 
the President's answer, 333 
Lloyd George on, 334-335 
Italians threaten to withdraw, 
335-336; reparation, respon- 
sibility and extradition of the 
Kaiser, 336; German pleni- 
potentiaries to come to Ver- 
sailles, 337; insulting action 
of Germany, 337; Italians 
leave, 338; letter from the 
President on Fiume, 338-339 ; 
Orlando answers, 339-340 ; 
London press on the letter, 
340-341; feeling in Eome, 
341-342 ; Belgium wants 
more territory, 342-343 ; 
treaty delivered to the Ger- 
mans, 343 ; speech of Clemen- 
ceau, 343-344; reply of 
Brockdorff-Eau/tzau, 344 ; 
contents of the treaty, 345- 
348. 
Peale, Charles Wilson, 104, 
Pershing, Gen. John J., num- 
ber of troops under; offers 



INDEX 



501 



American troops to Foch, 85, 
86; greetings from Poineare, 
Clemenceau, Foch, Petain, on 
anniversary of landing of 
American troops, 100 ; 
Fourth of July greetings 
from Haig and Lloyd George, 
103; on the battle of the 
Marne, 109; Commands First 
American army, 116; on St. 
Mihiel battle, 120-121 ; Lloyd 
George congratulates, 122 ; 
Sir Douglas Haig, 122. 

Petain, General, congratulates 
Pershing, 100. 

Philadelphia, War Chest, 71- 
74; "31 to 1," 73; amount 
raised, 74; Fourth Liberty 
Loan drive, 81-82; "Flag 
Day,'' 81 ; "Preparation 
Day,'' 81; "Emblem and 
Conscience Day," 81 ; "Persh- 
ing Day," 82 ; Fourth of July 
celebration, 102-103. 

Plebiscite, 345; 360; 361; 368. 

Plenipotentiaries, German meet 
Foch to receive Armistice 
terms, 208-209; received by 
Foch, 208-209 ; Armistice 
signed, 214-215; the terms, 
222-226. 

Poincar6, Eaymond, President 
of France, to President Wil- 
son on anniversary of land- 
ing of American troops, 99; 
to General Pershing, 100; 
Fourth of July greetings, 
104; greets the President in 
Paris. 

Poland, claims of, 324, 325; 
boundary 330; 345; 406. 

Pont Wilson, 106. 

Ports in France used for land- 
ing troops, 85. 

Posters, Fourth Liberty Loan, 
76. 



"Preparation Day," 81. 

Preyer, Friedrich von, peace 
speech, 153-156. 

President, The, fixes date of reg- 
istration, 38-39; address to 
registrants, 38-39 ; draws 
first capsule, Sept. 30, 41; 
address to Student Army 
Training Corps, 42; appeal 
to coal miners, 59; proclama- 
tion forbidding private re- 
cruiting of unskilled labor, 
60-61; to the strikers in an 
arms factory, 62; on prop- 
erty of interned aliens, 69; 
addresses Congress on fin- 
ance; 69-71; appeal for 
thrift, 74-75; Liberty Loan 
appeal, 78, 79; Second ap- 
peal, 83; celebration of an- 
niversary of landing of 
American troops in France, 
Poineare to the President, 
99; the Four Point Speech, 
101-102; Poineare congratu- 
lates, 104; King of the Bel-. 
gians. King of Italy, King of 
Greece send congratulations, 
105; also Joffre, Lord Read- 
ing, 106; King George con- 
gratulates on St. Mihiel, 120; 
Poineare, 122; Baron Burian 
replies to Fourth of July 
speech, 148-150; answers to 
Austria's peace note, 165- 
166; von Hertling criticizes, 
166-168; speech Sept. 27, 
1918, the Five Points, 170- 
173 ; Austria asks peace, 176 ; 
Germany asks peace, 176- 
179; the press on the offer, 
180-181; answer of Germany, 
183 ; the press on the answer, 
183-184; the Senate on the 
offer, 184-185; reply of the 
President, 187; Turkey asks 



50^ 



INDEX 



peace, 193-193; answer to 
Austria's peace offer, 195; 
reply of Germany, 196; an- 
swer to Germany, 198-199; 
Germany answers, 200; Aus- 
tria asks the President to 
act, 300-201 ; notifies Germany 
Foch will give terms of Arm- 
istice, 206; reads text of 
Armistice to Congress, 232- 
226; Germany appeals for 
help, 338-339; will attend 
the Peace Conference, 343; 
may he leave the country, 
243, 344, 345; 346; proc- 
lamation taking Government 
possession of cable lines, 344, 
345 ; the annual message Dec. 
1918, 346-347; resolution in 
the Senate 248; sails for 
France, 350; reception at 
Brest, 354-355; at Paris, 
355-259 ; degrees conferred, 
259; visits the army, 260; 
welcome at Dover, 260; at 
London, 260; speech of King 
George, 261; answer, 263- 
363; freedom of the city con- 
ferred, 363; at Carlisle, 364; 
freedom of city of Man- 
chester, 364; speech at, 364; 
reception in Italy, 365; at 
Eome, 365; at Genoa and 
Milan, 369; returns to Paris, 
370; speech to Peace Con- 
ference, 378-380 ; urges 
League of Nations, 379; 
recognizes Poland, 383; reads 
report on League to Peace 
Conference, 286-289 ; speech 
on, 289-292 ; sails for Boston, 
292; speech at Boston, 299- 
301; Congress adjourns, pro- 
test of the President, 306- 
307; speech at New York on 
the Covenant, 307-310; sails 



for Paris, 310; announces 
Covenant will be part of 
peace treaty, 310, 311, 312; 
answers complaints of delay, 
314; calls Congress in ex- 
tra session, 322; asked to ar- 
bitrate Fiume dispute, 327; 
calls for the George Wash- 
ington., 336; letter on Fiume, 
338-339 ; answer of Orlando, 
339-340; pledges aid to 
France, 348 ; Scheidemann 
denounces, 350-351 ; address 
after signing peace treaty, 
375; sails for home, 376; 
farewell to France, 376; mes- 
sage from King George, 376, 
377; lays the treaty before 
the Senate, 383-386; Senate 
calls for papers, 386-387; 
confers with Eepublican Sen- 
ators, 389-390; Senate calls 
for French-American treaty, 
391-393; answers calls for 
papers on treaty, 393-394; 
confers with Committee on 
Foreign Eelations, 395-397; 
Senator Borah and Johnson 
on the conference, 397-400; 
starts on western tour; the 
route, 405-406; speech, 405- 
415; becomes ill, 415; letter 
on reservations, 437; Jack- 
son Day letter, 434-435; let- 
ter to Senator Hitchcock, 
441-443; dispute with Allies 
over Fiume, 444-447; letter 
on reservations, 448-449 ; 
treaty returned to, 451. 

President Lincoln, the, sunk by 
a submarine, 2. 

Press, the German, on the sub- 
marine raids, 8-13; yolTcs 
Zeitung, captain of a U-boat 
describes raid on our coast, 
10-13. 



INDEX 



503 



Prinkipo, Supreme Council in- 
vite conference at, 274; op- 
position to, 276-277. 

Proclamations. Eegistration, 
Sept. 12, 38, 39 ; registration, 
August 24, 39; forbidding 
private recruiting of un- 
skilled labor, 60, 61; alien 
enemies, 69. 

Propaganda, German, Buy 
New York Mail, 64; the 
Fatherland, 64, 65; books 
and pamphlets, 65; Associa- 
tion of Foreign Language 
Newspapers, 65, 66; the 
"whispering campaign,^' 66 ; 
slanders on the Eed Cross, 
66; on the War Department, 
66. 

Punishment of Germans re- 
sponsible for the war, Lloyd 
George on, 250; Asquith on, 
251. 

Ratification of Treaty, Senate 
Committee report with res- 
ervations and amendments, 
401-405; lost, 428; by Eng- 
land, France and Italy, 430- 
432 ; ratification rejected, 
433-451. 

Eationing, Hoover urges con- 
servation, 54; the bread ra- 
tion, 54; meat, 54, sugar, 54, 
55; clubs, hotek, restaurants, 
householders, 54, 55; the Su- 
gar Board, 55; savings effect- 
ed, 56 ; Hoover's second ap- 
peal, 56-57. 

Eeading, Lord. Fourth of July 
greetings, 106. 

Eed Cross, 66; drive of May, 
1918, 71 ; War Chest in Phil- 
adelphia, 71-74 ; amount 
raised, 74; United War Work 
Campaign, 84. 



Referendum, the intercollegiate, 
437; the President suggests 
national, 435. 

Eegistrants, new classification, 
33-34; age limit extended, 
36, 37, 38; interpreters for in 
New York, 40; total number, 
41. 

Eegistration, of June 1918, 32, 
33; General Crowder's ad- 
dress to registrants, 32-33 ; 
number registered, 33 ; classi- 
fication, 34; registration Au- 
gust 24, 36-37; Sept. 12th, 
38, 40, 41; number, 41; 
round up of slackers, 43-49; 
number arrested, 249. 

Eeparation, 136-137; 251; 328, 
336; French Senators de- 
mand, 337; Members of 
House of Commons demand, 
337; treaty terms, 347; 355; 
359; 362. 

Eeservations, Mr. Eoot sug- 
gests, 381-382 ; Mr. Taft pro- 
poses six, 390-391; by Mr.' 
Hughes, 391; Senator Pitt- 
man, 400; Committee on 
Foreign Eelations report 
from, 401, 402-403 ; 404-405 ; 
the President on, 409 ; thir- 
teen substitutes, 417-419 ; 
reservations adopted, 423- 
425; 426, 427; reported by 
Committee of the Whole, 
428 ; ratification defeated, 
428 ; bi-partisan conference 
438 note; by Mr. Taft 438 
note; by Senator Hitchcock 

442 note; the President on, 
441-443; the "round robin," 

443 note; the President on, 
448-449; new ones offered, 
449-450. 

Eesponsibility for the war, 330- 
331. 



504 



INDEX 



Eevolution, in Hungary 204, 
205; in Germany, 213-214; 
221-222; 233, 234-235. 

Eintelen, Franz von, 67-68, 69. 

Eodgers, Eear Admiral, 30. 

Eodman, Hugh, Eear Admiral, 
30. 

Eome, Fourth of July observed 
in, 107. 

Eoot, Elihu, would separate the 
Covenant from the treaty, 
381; on Monroe Doctrine, 
381; reservations, 382. 

"Eound Eobin," on Article X., 
443 note. 

Eule 13, suspended, 439, 443. 

Eussia, 273; invited to Confer- 
ence, 274; parties in, 274; 
American troops in, 227. 

Saar Valley, 345, 351, 353, 355, 
359, 361, 368. 

Sorbonne, degrees conferred on 
President Wilson, 259. 

St. Mihiel salient, 116-121; 
King George sends congratu- 
lations, 121; Lloyd George, 
Gen. Haig, Poincare, 122. 

St. Quentin, canal, 124, 125. 

St. Quentin, destruction of 
the city, 136. 

San Diego, sunk, 13. 

Saxe-Coburg, Duke of abdi- 
cates, 233. 

Saxe-Meiningen, a republic 233. 

Saxe-Weimar, 233. 

Saxony, 233. 

Scheidemann, Philipp, 173; an- 
nounces overthrow of Em- 
pire, 222; in power, 233; de- 
nounces the treaty, 350-351 ; 
denounces the President, 350- 
351. 

Schleswig, 345; 361. 

School boards drop German 
language, 67. 



Scapa Flow, Germans sink in- 
terned ships, 371-372; Cle- 
menceau's note, 372-373. 

Seaman, Stanley W., descrip- 
tion of sinking by submarine, 
16. 

Second Division, on the Marne, 
88, 89 ; villages taken by, 94- 
95; Belleau Wood, 94-99; 
West of Soissons, 111; the 
battle, 111-112; at St. Mihiel, 
119; in the Argonne, 135. 

Secret meetings of Peace Con- 
ference opposed, 272. 

Senate, opposition of Senator to 
the President going abroad, 
248-249; Senator Borah on 
treaty of peace, 249 ; on en- 
tangling alliances, 249; reso- 
lution of Senator Freyling- 
huysen, 248; Secrecy of 
Peace Conference opposed, 
272; President asks League 
of Nations be not debated, 
293; feeling in the Senate, 
293-296; discusses League, 
296-297; Senator Eeed, 399; 
White House Lunch, 301; 
debate on League, 301-303 ; 
Senator Knox opposes 303- 
305; Senator Lodge's Eeso- 
lutions, 305-306; Senators 
Lodge and Borah see copies 
of treaty before it is made 
public, 378; resolution of in- 
quiry, 379-380; Senator 
Borah asks it be printed, 380 ; 
the treaty printed, 380; Sen- 
ator Knox opposed to rati- 
fication with the Covenant, 
380-381; letter from Mr. 
Eoot, 381-382; exclude Ar- 
ticle X, 382; four courses 
of action, 383; the President 
lays treaty before the Sen- 
ate, 383-386; call for Shan- 



INDEX 



505 



tung treaty, 386; copies of 
protests against, and drafts 
of League, 387; the Shan- 
tung agreement, 387-389 ; 
conference of the President 
with Eepublicans, 389-390 ; 
Anglo - American - French 
treaty 391-393; President an- 
swers call for papers, 393- 
394; Committee on Foreign 
Eelations confer with Presi- 
dent, 395-397; Senators Bor- 
ah and Johnson on the con- 
ference, 397-399; treaty re- 
ported with reservations and 
amendments, 401-403 ; ma- 
jority report, 404-405 ; 
amendments to Article 35, 
415-416; thirteen substitute 
reservations, 417-419; John- 
son equal vote amendment, 
419; amendments lost, 419- 
420; to fix time for final 
vote, 421, 422; amendments 
lost, 422; reservations con- 
sidered, 422-425; cloture in- 
voked, 425-426; reservations 
considered, 426, 427; the 
President on the reservations, 
427; report of Committee of 
the Whole, 428; letter from 
the President, 428; resolu- 
tion to ratify defeated, 428- 
429; Knox resolutions, 433; 
bi-partisan conference, 437- 
438 ; Senator Hitchcock's 
reservations 422 note; Eule 
13 suspended, 439; 443; the 
"round robin," 443 and note; 
action of Senate, 447; new 
reservations, 449, and notes, 
,450; on Ireland, 450; re- 
jects treaty, 451. 

Seventy -ninth Division; in the 
Argonne, 130, 131. 

Seventy-seventh Division, 115 ; 



in the Argonne, 130; 133- 
134; Lost Battalion, 132. 

Shantung, 330; Senate call for 
treaty, 386; how Japan ac- 
quired Shantung, 387-388 ; 
why the President consented, 
388; opposition in the Sen- 
ate, 388-389; 390; 403; 404; 
407; the President on, 410; 
413. 

Shaw, Dr. Anna Howard, 44. 

Ship building, 51-54. 

Shipping Board, 52, 53, 54. 

Ships, tonnage needed for army, 
52 ; fabricated ships, 52 ; Hog 
Island, 52 ; speed in building, 
52, 53 ; great launching, July 
4th, 53, 54; Lloyd George 
on, 53, 

Signing the treaty, 374-375; 
Chinese delegates do not sign, 
375; Smuts signs under pro- 
test, 375. 

Silesia, Upper; 345; 351; 358; 
359; 368. 

Sims, Bear Admiral, 30. 

Slackers, rounded up, 43-49; 
denounced in the Senate, 45- 
46; statement of Attorney 
General, 46-49. 

Smuts, Jan Christiaan, Lt. Gen- 
eral, plan for League of Na- 
tions, 270; signs treaty under 
protest, 375. 

"Soldiers in France Day," 76. 

Solf, accepts peace terms, 187; 
appeals to the President, 229 ; 
asks early peace conference, 
230, 231. 

Strikes, clause in draft age 
bill, 37. Gompers' objection, 
38; action of the President 
on, 62. 

Student Army Training Corps, 
41; address by the President, 
42; by the Secretary of War, 



506 



INDEX 



42-43; by General March, 
43; disbanded, 236. 

Submarine, Cruise of a sub- 
marine off our coast described 
by her commander, 10-13. 

Submarines, German off the 
coast, 1, 2; vessels destroyed 
by, 1-3; the U-90, 2; sur- 
vivors of the Caroline, 5; 
complaints against the IsTavy 
Department, 7; reply of As- 
sistant Secretary, 7-8; Sen- 
ator Lodge d-efends, 7-8; 
Secretary Daniels explains, 
8; his telegram to London 
Times, 8; German press on 
the raid, 8-10; captain of the 
U-boat describes the raid, 10- 
13; San Diego sunk, 13; 
sinkings off Cape Cod, 13; 
0. B. Jennings sunk by UK- 
140 off Virginia, 14-15; Mr. 
R. H. Bastin, a prisoner, de- 
scribes his experience on, 15, 
16, 19-21; destroys Diamond 
Shoal Light Ship, 16, 19, de- 
stroys MeraJc, 16, 19 ; U-117— 
vessels sunk by, 22-23, 24; 
sinking of the Sommerstad 
described, 23 ; cruise of the 
TJ-117, 24; sinking of Doro- 
thy Barrett described, 25; of 
the Mirlo, 26, 27; Triumph 
armed, 28; U-152 sinks the 
Ticonderoga, 28-29; all sub- 
marines called home, 29; 

Submarines, vessels destroyed 
by, off our coast. 
Edward H. Cole, 3. 
Edna, 2, 4. 
Hattie Dunn, 4. 
Hauppaug, 4. 
Isabel B. Wiley, 4. 
Winnieconme, 4. 
Texel, 4. 
Carolina, 4-5. 



Mengel, 5. 

Eidsvold, 5. 

Edward H. Baird, Jr., 6. 

Harpathian, 6. 

V inland, 6. 

Pinar del Bio, 6. 

Vindeggen, 6. 

Hendrik Lund, 6. 

Samoa, 6. 

Kringsjaa, 6. 

Manx King, 13. 

Perth Amboy, 13. 

Bobert and Bichard, 14. 

Dornfontein, 14. 

Nelson A., 14. 

Lu^ Blancha, 14. 

Gladys M. Hollett, 14. 

0. B. Jennings, 14-15. 

Stanley W. Seaman, 16. 

Diamond Shoal Light Ship, 
19. 

Meralc, 16, 19. 

TokvAjama Maru, 21. 

Kate Palmer, 22. 

Cruiser, 22. 

Earl and Nettie, 22. 

Peniston, 22. 

Sydland, 23. 

Sommerstad, 23. 

Frederick B. Kellogg, 24. 

Dorothy Barrett, 25. 

Madrugada, 25. 

Mirlo, 26, 27. 

San Jose, 27. 

Nordhave, 27. 

Ticonderoga, 28-29. 

Sti finder, 29. 

Triumph, 28. 
Sugar Board, 55. 
Sugar, rationing of, 55; causes 

of scarcity, 55. 
Sultan Okwawa, Germany to re- 
store skull of, 347. 
Supreme Council, 206; take up 

case of Russia, 273; invite 

conference at Prinkipo, 274; 



INDEX 



507 



opposition to, 375; protest 
by Russians to Clemenceau, 
276 ; opposition in U. S., 276- 
277; warning to those using 
armed force 277-278; the 
German colonies, 283; on 
treatment of Germany. 

Taft, William Howard, on 
President's reply to German 
peace offer, 185; on Monroe 
Doctrine, 297; discussion 
with Senator Borah, 297-298; 
speaks on the Covenant at 
New York, 307, 310 ; propos- 
es amendments to League, 
313; 390-391; to Article X., 
438 note. 

Tardieu Andre, 107. 

Telegraph and telephone lines 
taken over, 244, 245. 

Telegraph, the London, on vic- 
tory of the marines, 109. 

Third Division, beats the Ger- 
mans on the Marne, 108-109 ; 
Pershing's report, 109; Lon- 
don press on, 109-110; ad- 
vance from the Marne, 113- 
114; relieved, 114; in the 
Argonne, 130. 

''Thirty-one to One," 73. 

Thirtieth Division, 123-124; 
125; 126. 

Thirty-second Division, 114- 
115; 130. 

Thirty-third Division, 130; 133. 

Thirty-fifth Division, 130; 131. 

Thirty-seventh Division, 126; 
130; 131. 

Thirty-eighth Division, 109. 

"Thrift Day," 74. 

.Ticonderoga, sunk by U-152; 
28-29. 

Times, the London, 8. 

Travel, no unnecessary, 63. 

Treaties, Secret, Great Britain 



and Japan, 283; Great Brit- 
ain and Italy, 327; Shan- 
tung, 387-389 ; Anglo-French- 
American, 391-393. 
Treaty, the Peace, complaints 
of delay, answer of the 
President, 314; magnitude of 
the work, 324; demands of 
the new nations, 324-325; 
dispute over Fiume, 326-327; 
Wilson asked to arbitrate, 
327; Armenian demands, 
328; the Economic Council, 
328; reparation, 328; naval 
terms, 3'29; military terms, 
330; Poland, Danzig, East 
Prussia, 330; responsibility 
for the war, 331; the Rhine 
country, 331; questions set- 
tled, 336; Germans to come 
to Versailles, 337; action of 
Germany, 337; Belgium dis- 
satisfied, 342-343; treaty de- 
livered to Germans, 343; 
speech of Clemenceau, 343- 
344; reply of Brockdorff- 
Eantzau, 344; contents of the 
treaty, 345-348 ; France 
alarmed, 348 ; dismay in Ger- 
many, 348-349 ; denounced by 
Scheidemann, 350-351 ; by 
Ebert, 351-352; Brockdorff- 
Rantzau notes, 353-355, 
Cabinet will not sign, 356- 
357; counter proposal, 358- 
359 ; observations of the dele- 
gates, 359-364; Allies review 
war acts of Germany, 364- 
368; must be signed within 
seven days, 368; German 
Cabinet resigns, 368; As- 
sembly votes it be signed, 
369; time asked and refused, 
369; reservations offered and 
refused, 369-370; treaty will 
be signed, 371; fleet at 



508 



INDEX 



Scapa Flow, 371-372; Clem- 
enceau's note on sinking, 373- 
373; the treaty signed, 374- 
375; Chinese delegates do 
not sign, 375; Smuts signs 
under protest, 375; Clemen- 
ceau refuses to make treaty 
public, 378; Bon Soir sends 
copies to the French Cham- 
ber, 378; Senators Lodge and 
Borah see copies, 378; reso- 
lution in the Senate, 378-379; 
the Chicago Tribune sends a 
copy, 379; Senator Borah 
reads it, 379; the treaty 
printed, 380; Senator Knox's 
resolution, 380-381 ; Mr. 
Eoot on the Covenant, 381- 
383; treaty laid before Sen- 
ate by the President, 383- 
386; Mr. Taft and Mr. 
Hughes propose amendments 
and reservations, 391-392 ; 
committee report with reser- 
vations and amendments, 401- 
405; speeches on the Presi- 
dent in the West, 405-415; 
amendments to Article 35, 
415-416 ; substitute reserva- 
tions, 417-419; amendments 
lost, 419-420; attempt to tlx 
time for final vote, 421-422; 
amendments lost, 422; reser- 
vations adopted, 423-425, 426, 
427; cloture, 425-426; re- 
ported by Committee of the 
Whole, 428; ratification de- 
feated, 429 ; treaty ratified by 
Great Britain, France, Italy, 
429; violated by Germany, 
429-430; Germany summoned 
to sign new protocol, 431; 
reply of Germany, 431-432; 
ratifications exchanged, 432; 
the President stands firm, 
432; Senators seek a com- 



promise, 433; the Jackson 
dinner, 433-434; the Presi- 
dent's letter, 434-435 ; 
Bryan's speech, 435-436; 
bi-partisan conference, 437- 
438; vote on in Univer- 
sities, 439; Viscount Grey's 
letter, 439-440 ; Senator 
Hitchcock's reservations, 422 ; 
Eule 13 suspended, 439 ; 443 ; 
the "round robin," 443 and 
note; action of the Senate, 
447; the President on reser- 
vations, 448-449 ; new reser- 
vations, 449 and note; 450; 
on Ireland, 450; treaty re- 
jected, 451, 

Treaty of London, 327. 

Tribune^ The Chicago, sends 
copy of treaty to Senator 
Borah, 379. 

Trolley lines, war economies, 
58. 

Troops, Allies call for, 36; 
movement of, 49; Lloyd 
George on, 49-50; number 
sent over seas, 50, 51; Ger- 
man press on, 51; Admiral 
von Capelle on, 51. 

Tuckahoe, 52, 53. 

Turkey seeks peace, 192-193; 
204. 

Twenty-sixth Division, 111 ; 
112; 113; 119. 

Twenty-seventh Division, 124, 
125; 126. 

Twenty-eighth Division, 114 ; 
115; 130. 

Twenty-ninth Division, 130 ; 
133. 

UK-140. Sinks the 0. B. Jen- 
nings, 14-15; the Stanley W. 
Seaman, 16; the MeraJc, 16, 
19 ; the Diamond Shoal 
Lightship; Mr. Bastin, a 



INDEX 



509 



prisoner on, describes attack, 

19-20; cliase of, 20. 
U-153. Sinks the Ticonderogd, 

28-29 ; called home, 29. 
U-117. Vessels destroyed by, 

21-26; sinking of Sommer- 

stad described, 23; of the 

Mirlo, 26; cruise of, 21-26. 
Underwood, Oscar W., Senator, 

422-423; 435. 
United War Work Campaign, 

84. 
Universities, Student Army 

Training Corps, 41-43; vote 

on reservations, 437. 

Victory bread, 54. 

Victory Loan, 84. 

Vierick, George Sylvester, 64, 
65. 

Violations of the treaty by Ger- 
many, 429-430. 

Vladivostok. American troops 
landed, 227 ; complaint in the 
Senate, 227; troops with- 
drawn, 227. 

Walsh, Senator, 424-425. 

War, the, in France, ports used 
by our army, 85; our troops 
at disposal of Marshal Foch, 
85-86; German drives of 
March and April, 86-87; 
''With our backs to the wall," 
86 ; the May drive, 86-87 ; the 
June drive, 87; the First Di- 
vision at Cantigny, 88 ; Sec- 
ond Division at Chateau- 
Thierry, 89; the fight of the 
Marines, 89 ; foreign news- 
papers describe the fight, 89- 
94; Lloyd George on the 
Americans, 94; Second Divi- 
sion on the Marne, 94; vil- 
lages taken by, 94-95; the 
Marines take Belleau Wood, 



95-99; General Degouttes or- 
der, 99 ; Hamel wood, 101 ; 
German drive of July 15, 
108; the Marne crossed, 108; 
the Americans drive back the 
Germans, 109 ; battle line 
July 16, 110; Foch begins 
counter drive. 111; battle 
near Soiseons, 111-112; cap- 
ture of Berzy-le-Sec, Tigny, 
Bois d'Harlennes, Chouy, 
Sommelans, 112; capture of 
Torcy, Belleau, Givry, Licy, 
Monthiers, 113 ; Germans 
evacuate Chateau-Thierry, 
113 ; capture of Epieds, 
Trugny; Allied front, 114; 
Sergy and Serings captured, 
the Ourcq crossed, 114; 
Cierges and Hill 230 cap- 
tured, 115; Soissons entered, 
Ville-en-Tardenois taken; the 
German retreat begins, 115; 
Fismes taken; the Americans 
on the Vesle, 115 ; British 
and French attack along Al- 
bert-Montdidier front, 115^ 
116; battle front at end of 
August, 1918, 116; Ameri- 
cans capture St. Mihiel Sa- 
lient, 116-121; congratula- 
tions on the victory, 121-122 ; 
Dixmude taken, British and 
French near'Cambrai and St. 
Quentin, 123 ; Americans take 
Vierstaat 'Eidge, 124; and 
break the Hindenburg Line, 
124; St. Quentin Canal, 124; 
villages taken, 125; Ameri- 
cans between the Lys and Bs- 
caut Eivers, 126 ; The Ameri- 
cans before Eheims, 129 ; 
Meuse-Argonne battle, 129- 
136; destruction of St. Quen- 
tin, 136; protest of the 
French Government, 136-137; 



510 



INDEX 



of the French Eeparation 
Committee, 138; of the Unit- 
ed States, 138-139; advance 
of the Allies, 139-140. 

War, Acts of Germany during, 
reviewed by the Allies, 364- 
368. 

War aims of Germany; von 
Kuhlmann on, 141-143; von 
Hertling on, 143-147; v^ar 
aims of Austria, Baron Bur- 
ian on, 148-150; 151-153; 
war aims of Germany, Herr 
Preyer on, 154-156. 

War Chest, Eed Cross drive in 
Philadelphia, 71-74; amount 
raised, 74. 

War Industries Board, 58. 

War Labor Policies Board, 60. 

War Savings Stamps, 74; 
"Thrift Day," 74; President 
appeals, 74-75 ; "Limit 
Clubs," 75; "Soldiers in 
in France Day," 76; amount 
sold, 76. 

Ward, Speed in building, 53. 

Washington, George, on alli- 
ances, 309-310. 

Weimar, German Assembly to 
meet at, 253. 

Wheat, rationing of, 54, 56. 

"Whispering Campaign," 66. 

William II., Emperor of Ger- 
many, peace speech at Essen, 
152-153 ; message to Father- 



land Party, 174; announces 
Germany's peace offer, 182; 
on abdication, 203; demands 
for abdication, 203; abdica- 
tion announced, 213; flees to 
Holland, 215; story of the 
flight, 216-217; demand for 
extoittdition, 218-219; Hol- 
land explains his status, 218; 
indicted in England, 218; 
Lloyd George on, 219; his 
signed abdication, 219; Hol- 
land appoints commission, 
220-221; expatriation dis- 
cussed at Paris, 221; Lloyd 
George on punishment, 250; 
extradition to be asked, 336, 
arraigned in peace treaty, 
346-347. 

Wilson, Eear Admiral, false re- 
port of Armistice, 211. 

Withdrawal from League, 402; 
417. 

"Work or Fight" order, 34, 35. 

Workmen and Soldiers Coun- 
cils, 214; 221; 222; 233; 
234; 235. 

"Your Boy and Mine," 76. 

Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation, 72; 84. 

Young Men's Hebrew Associa- 
tion, 73; 84. 

Young Women's Christian As- 
sociation, 72; 84. 



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